If I Ever Knew You
by Ryu-Sorairo
Summary: Vaughn could swear the chestnut haired rancher is the same girl he met as a child, but while he hasn't stopped thinking about her, she doesn't seem to remember him at all! And it appears she has some secrets of her own...
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: In this chapter I'm just trying to lay down all the back story I think is important to know, so sorry if it seems a little random or rushed. If you see anything that could be improved, just let me know! And of course I don't own Harvest Moon or its characters. But how awesome would that be? ;)

**Chapter 1**

"That's all we made this week?" Mirabelle sighed, tossing the form onto her desk. "I hate to say it, but Vaughn, you're totally useless. There just aren't any jobs for animal ranchers in a city like ours. The northern part of town is too industrialized, and the south is too poor to afford such things."

I turned my gaze to the poor sales figures staring up at me. "So…you going to fire me?"

"No, of course not. We'll just have to take our business elsewhere, that's all."

"Did you have somewhere in mind?"

"Well….." On cue, she pulled out a rather old looking pamphlet from her desk drawer. The front cover featured a huge smiling sun with orange text labeled "Welcome To Sunny Island". "This is the island I want to take our business to."

My eyes remained glued to the annoyingly bright hues. "…I quit."

She laughed as if I was kidding and said "Now don't try that whole tough guy act of yours on me! It has undergone a couple of changes since this brochure was made."

"Oh really. Did they change that idiotic name?"

"Well, no, but..."

I stared at her silently. People always smile nervously when they think I'm mad, but Mirabelle doesn't. She just continues on like normal. I like that about her.

"To put it simply, the island was hit by a devastating storm a few years ago and its inhabitants were forced to evacuate. But I hear that people are starting to come back to the island, and it has the potential to become a good market for our products. Julia went to see it the other day, as a matter of fact. And if you need even more persuasion, I'm gonna be moving there myself!"

I crossed my arms. Julia was Mirabelle's daughter and my co-worker. I trusted her judgment almost as much as Mirabelle's. And they'd both said it was a good idea…Besides, they were the only ones I even bothered with in this city. I shrugged.

"...Whatever. If you both think its ok then I guess I'll check it out."

"Good choice, Vaughn! I knew you'd cave. Alright, I want you to bring shipments over every Wednesday and head back for the city on Fridays, got it? I'll have someone else take over the warehouse here. I'll take care of that tonight and see you on the island tomorrow."

I headed home to grab a few things for the trip, then went to the docks to wait for the boat as Mirabelle had instructed. Sunny Island. Stupid name. Still, I owed them both. They took me in when I needed a job. They were the only ones who'd given a rat's tail about me after my parents had kicked me out for dropping out of school and ruining their good reputation.

My parents were wealthy stock holders who had control of pretty much the whole city. They'd never cared about me, all that mattered to them was their money and their reputations. When people heard that their prodigy son had quit school, they were horrified and banished me to some crappy shed in the run down southern part of town, where I was sure to never see them again, punishment for embarrassing the family name. I hated it there. I hated the stares I received for being a part of an upper class family. I hated the stares I received for being kicked out of said family. And with the exception of Mirabelle and Julia, I was totally alone. I was seriously about to give up on people.

That's when I met her.

I had woken up in a particularly bad mood and was wandering down to the docks, where I always went when I wanted to unwind. As I was passing by one of the back alleys, however, I saw a scrawny looking girl with extremely messy chestnut colored hair crying her eyes out, screaming at a group of boys to give her back a necklace. I would have just continued past the entire ruckus, if one of the little punks hadn't seen me and decided it would be funny to steal my bandanna. I glowered at the brat and told him I'd beat the crud out of him if he didn't hand over the goods. I could see he wasn't going to comply, however, so I had to stoop to telling him who my family was and watch as a look of horror spread across his face. He immediately dropped the goods and ran off with his thugs. Perhaps having a feared family has its uses…

I put my bandanna back around my neck and handed the necklace to the sniveling girl. She stared back at me tearfully and attempted a smile. It was seriously the most pathetic thing I had ever seen. She managed to mutter a thank you as she put the chain back around her neck. I turned to leave, but she grabbed my hand and pressed a coin into it. I shook my head.

"I don't need-"

"No, please, take it…this necklace means a lot to me…I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't gotten it back. You're a hero."

I watched in blank wonder as she stood and ran off….a hero? Funny…but she made me smile that day for the first time I could ever remember. That was the first time a stranger had said anything positive about me.

Now here I was, 14 years later on the same dock, that same coin the girl had given me in my hand. I had taken to carrying it for luck. I smiled to myself. I guess I had subconsciously taken it out during that daydream. I don't know why I still thought about it, about her. It's not as if I'd ever see her again, and it's not like it was anything special. Some things just stick with you, I guess.

I glanced up as the boat's horn sounded in the distance. I shoved the coin back into my pocket and stood, wondering what the island would be like and what I had gotten myself in to.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

I stumbled off the boat and onto the island's tiny dock. That had NOT been a fun ride. The animals weren't use to the rocking motion of the ship, so I had to go through 4 hours of hell trying to calm down 6 cows, 7 chickens, and 3 sheep, all flopping around trying to get out of the death trap. One of the chickens had even managed to peck a hole in my hat. Damn chicken.

"Hey, Vaughn!" I barely had enough time to glance up before Julia threw herself at me with a huge grin on her face. "You're here! I've been waiting for you all day! How was the boat- Oh wow, you look awful." She stated, standing back to get a better look at me.

I gave her one of my glares and she instantly changed the topic.

"So mom and I have the shop all set up! You should come by and look at it. We've even got a room set up for you already!"

"Jeez, Julia, I just got here."

"I know, I know. But you can relax when we get there!"

Getting the feeling I wasn't going to win this argument, I let her lead me to the shop, surveying the town as I walked through it. There were a few people scattered about who looked at me as I passed by, but none of them gave me the cold snobby glares I was accustomed to in the city. One of them even smiled, this one girl with chestnut…

Wait, why did she look so familiar…?

That's when it clicked. That chestnut haired girl from my childhood…she looked just like her!

"Vaughn!" Julia yanked my arm, snapping me back to reality. "What's wrong?"

"Um… Nothing. Where's the shop?"

"Right over there." Julia answered, pointing to a rundown looking shack on the other side of the dirt road.

"I hope the inside looks better than the outside…"

"I think it does. Everything's set up, aside from a few crates we haven't unpacked yet."

"Guess that's what I'll be doing all day."

"Yeah, but I'll help you." I pushed my thoughts of the girl aside as Julia unlocked the door and led me in. The floor was swept and the lights were on, and there were a few pictures hanging on the wall. I was actually impressed with how it looked.

"This is the room we set aside for you." She led me around the corner to a little room with only the bare necessities: a bed, a dresser, a lamp. Good enough for me.

"Mom should get here tomorrow. So I guess you can do what you want until then."

I nodded. She turned to leave, but then stopped and turned to face me again.

"On second thought, maybe you should go meet the rancher first. She'll be the main one buying the animals after all."

"She?"

"Yes, she. I'll have you know she's very strong!"

I instantly got an image of a woman with short blonde curls and huge bulging muscles in my head. I flopped down on the bed. "I'll meet her later."

Julia gave me a hard stare. I sighed, standing back up. I suppose I might as well get it over with. And besides, I wanted to try and find that girl again. Julia gave me a smile as I walked past her and headed towards the door.

I glanced around for the girl I saw before as I made my way to the farm, but I couldn't find her. No big deal, it's not like I was gonna talk to her, anyways. So I surveyed the farm land as I approached the rancher's house. "This place is a total dump…" I muttered as I raised a hand to knock on the door, but it swung open before I had a chance to and I found myself staring at a really huge, really muscular torso. I glanced up and let out a gasp of shock. A small head with curly blonde hair and bright blue eyes was staring down at me! Holy crap, the image in my head was right!

"Hey! I've never seen you before!"  
My shock increased as the one small blonde head was joined by a larger, balder one with crappy dental care.

"Oh hey! You are new!"

I stared at the figure, mouth agape. The blonde head fell from the torso and I realized it had been a small girl riding on the bigger guy's shoulder. I was tempted to just leave the weirdoes right then and there, but that would be defeating the purpose and I'd have to come back again later, so I forced myself into conversing with them.

"You're not the rancher, are you?"

The big guy laughed and said "Naw, I'm the carpenter on this island. Gannon's the name! An' this here is my daughter Eliza."

"Yup!" the girl chimed in as if to confirm the man's statement. There was no way in hell those two were related.

"We're here to help Chelsea fix up the farm a little."

"Chelsea's the rancher?"

"Yup! Hey, Chelsea! You've got a visitor!"

I heard a loud clunk and a few moments later, you guessed it, that girl I'd been looking for came to the door, which seriously threw me for a loop. Life was determined to make me make a fool of myself on my first day on this island. Well, life, not gonna happen. I looked up at the sky, which had turned a stormy gray color. The first few drops of rain were beginning to fall. I hoped this little intro would be short so I could get back to the shop before it started coming down heavy.

"I've gotta go get some more lumber. I'll be back later to finish yer upgrade." Gannon said as he walked by me, Eliza alongside him. Chelsea nodded slowly.

"Alright…Crap that hurt. " She muttered, rubbing her head and motioning for me to come inside.

"You okay?" I asked as I entered.

"Yeah. Something fell on me, that's all." She swayed a little and pointed towards the back of her house, at a large painting on the floor. It looked pretty heavy.

"You sure you're okay? Don't want you passing out on me."

"I'm fine, I'm fine! I was just trying to do some home improvements, key word there being trying." She smiled and I found that despite my best efforts I felt quite comfortable in her presence. Not exactly thrilled by this discovery, I quickly turned my attention to my surroundings. Her house was pretty empty. All she had was a bed and a table with a large rucksack thrown on top of it.

"So uh…I'm Chelsea." She held out her hand, expecting me to shake it.

"Vaughn." I brushed my hand against hers then crossed my arms. "I'm an animal dealer. I'll be bringing animals to this island from the city every week. I just figured you should know since you're the rancher and all." I couldn't help smirking as I said this because really, she did not look like much of a rancher to me. She gave me a bit of a glare, then smiled.

There was a flash of light from outside her window and seconds later, a loud boom. Chelsea shuddered.

"Man, I hate storms…Do you want to stay for a while? I'd feel bad if I let you walk out in that."

I studied her face for a minute. She had the same features as the girl from my memory, but I couldn't be sure unless I found out more about her. But seriously, how would I do that? Say "oh, I think you're this girl I met over a decade ago who was the first person not to treat me like total crap, and gave me this coin which I now carry around 24/7" ? Truthful…and psychotic. I shook my head.

"No…I should get back. And you should rest your head."

She laughed. "Okay. Just don't get hit by lightning!"

"I'll try not to. See you around, I guess." And with another glance I left, trying to ignore the nagging suspicions slowly taking over my mind.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

I made it back to the animal store pretty quickly (and managed to avoid getting struck by lightning-even though I got soaked.)

"Hey, Julia. I'm back." I heard a lot of banging in the kitchen area and Julia ran out, her face flushed.

"Oh, back already? How'd it go?"

"Peachy. What were you doing in there? "

"Uh…nothing. So you should go in your room and get dried off."

I pushed past her and looked in the kitchen. This really nerdy guy was trying to hide under the table, eyeing me nervously. I could see Julia's light colored lipstick all over his face.

"Nothing, huh?"

She sighed. "Oh all right…Vaughn, this is my neighbor Elliot. Elliot this is Vaughn, he just came here from the city." Elliot gave me an unsure smile which I didn't return.

"Nice to see you're so close to your neighbors."

"He was just visiting, okay?"

I headed towards my room. "Sure, whatever. None of my business."

"Maybe I should go…" I heard Elliot mumble.

"No! He's like that to everybody…Elliot!" the front door closed and seconds later Julia was in my room, her eyes already tearing up. "Thanks a lot, Vaughn! Would it kill you to be nice for once?"

"Probably, yeah."

She shoved me backwards onto my bed. "You just ruined my one chance of finding love! Now I'm going to be alone forever!"

"Oh please. You're being over dramatic. What brought on this sudden need for a boyfriend, anyways? "

She sighed and sat down next to me. "It's just…I saw Chelsea with her boyfriend the other day, and they looked so happy…I felt kind of jealous."

"Julia, that's no reason to- Wait, Chelsea has a boyfriend? "

"Uh-huh. He lives here on the island. Well…he's not here _right_ now, but he'll be back in a few days."

"Oh." I still wasn't sure about Chelsea and this just added to the annoyance. Julia stood and headed for the door.

"You really should dry off…unless you like sleeping under wet blankets." My bed was now indeed as soaked as my clothing. I shrugged.

"Probably won't be going to sleep for a while anyways."

"Well don't stay up all night! We have to meet my mom at the docks tomorrow morning, remember?"

"I know. 'Night."

"Goodnight Vaughn."

When she was gone I stripped off my wet clothing and put on the spares I'd brought from home. Despite how long my day had been I wasn't t very tired that night.

The next morning, however…

I definitely felt tired as Julia dragged me to the beach to wait for Mirabelle. "I told you not to stay up all night!" she scolded as we sat down on the sand. Her voice sounded far off.

I laid down and closed my eyes. "I still made it, didn't I?"

"Yeah, barely!"

I'd just drifted off when a new voice woke me up again.

"Um…A-are you okay?" I opened my eyes. This girl in a hideous purple dress was staring down at me.

"He's fine. Just paying for ignoring my advice." Julia answered.

The girl blushed. "Oh…well sorry to disturb you..." She wandered off and I closed my eyes again.

"Who's she? "

"Sabrina. She's…a little odd."

"Her dress is a little odd."

Julia giggled then shouted "Oh look! I think that's her boat! Get up, Vaughn!"

I yawned and forced myself to sit up. I looked around. That Sabrina girl was now on the other end of the beach, still watching me. She gave me the creeps. I did my best to ignore her until the boat arrived. Then I was too busy helping Mirabelle unload her stuff to do much else. As soon as all my work was done I passed out into such a deep sleep that I almost missed my boat back to town the next morning.

My problems would have to wait for another week.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

It was a few weeks later when I finally met him. The boyfriend from hell. Chelsea had been making regular visits to the shop, buying various animal products, though I hadn't really talked to her since that first meeting. Then when Sabrina found out where I worked, she began staring at me through the window every morning on her way to the beach. I'd tried to avoid going to the beach after that, but on this particular day Chelsea had bought the last of our fodder, and since the boat I came on hadn't left yet I was sent back to the docks to get some more.

Sabrina walked up to me as soon as she saw me coming. "H-hi there, Vaughn! You remember me? Sabrina? I-it's so nice out today, isn't it?"

I'd never answered a single one of her questions, but that didn't dissuade the little pest. She prattled on and on as I made my way to the boat. I took a little extra time getting the fodder, but she was still waiting for me. It was then that I heard a laugh coming from a short distance away. A guy in some weird pirate get up was watching us, amused.

"She doesn't give up, huh?"

Sabrina turned to give him a dirty look. He laughed again.

"Thankfully Chelsea isn't that clingy with me. You know Chelsea?"

I almost tripped. "Yeah, somewhat. She stops by the shop a lot."

"oh, right. You're that animal dude. Bon."

"It's pronounced _Vaughn_!" Sabrina corrected him. He rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. So Chelsea talks about you quite a bit."

That got me to stop. He walked up to me, all signs of joking gone from his face.

"I'll get to the point. I don't want you hanging out with Chelsea."

I smirked. Seriously? "What, you afraid?"

"She's MY girlfriend and I don't want her hanging around with weird anti social types like you. Who knows what kind of crap you'll fill her head with!"

I sighed. "Funny. I'd have thought Chelsea would have good taste in guys, but after meeting you, well, I guess the only taste she has is in her mouth."

"BOO YEAH!" Sabrina yelled, effectively ruining my comeback. I turned to glare at her. She blushed bright red and turned the other direction, rightfully mortified by her outburst.

It was his turn to smirk. "Better go comfort _your_ girlfriend. You make such a perfect couple."

"Shut up."

"Or what? You gonna punch me?"

I would have if my hands weren't full of fodder. I forced myself to turn away as he laughed and made clucking sounds.

"Don't listen to Denny…He's just a jerk." Sabrina whispered before turning back.

"What took so long?" Mirabelle asked as I entered the shop and handed her the fodder. "Was it that Sabrina girl again?"

"No. Do you have anything else for me to do today?"

"Nope. You always finish your work so fast, Vaughn."

"Then I'm going out for a bit." I'm not sure what possessed me to do it, but I headed for Chelsea's. No kidding he's a jerk. And he doesn't deserve someone like her.

She was working in the fields when I got there. It was odd, seeing her working with tools almost as big as she was. She got a surprised look on her face when she saw me, and smiled.

"Hey stranger! What brings you here?"

Julia's words from before raced through my mind.

_I saw Chelsea with her boyfriend the other day, and they looked so happy…_

I forced myself to smile back. "it's nothing…Never mind…Sorry…" I saw the confused hurt on her face as I left, and the coin in my pocket suddenly felt ten times heavier.


	5. Chapter 5

Vaughn needed a break from storytelling, so this chapter will be told from Chelsea's p.o.v. ^ ^

**Chapter 5**

I huffed as Vaughn left my ranch, after suddenly appearing for no reason. He was…confusing.

I mean, when I met him at my ranch for the first time I'd felt this kind of…_pull_ towards him. So I'd asked him if he wanted to stay for a while, hoping he'd say yes and I'd get to learn more about him. But he turned me down…so I thought he'd hang out with me some other time, but nope. He'd never shown the slightest interest in me! And I'd even started visiting his shop every day he was there, just to try and strike up a conversation, but every time I'd tried he'd pretty much ignored me! And the look he always gave me…Kinda like how you'd look at a really hard question on that test you forgot to study for. Like I gave him a headache!

I pulled my watering can out of my rucksack and carried it to the other end of the ranch to refill it in the stream. Okay, so Vaughn obviously wasn't interested in me…but didn't mean I wasn't interested in him. There was something about him that really fascinated me. His mysterious personality, yeah, but there was something else too. And it was no good trying to talk to Denny about it because whenever I brought up Vaughn he'd get all mad and accuse me of having a crush on him.

Not a totally false accusation, mind you…

I sighed and carried my watering can to the corn seeds I had planted a week ago. Well whether he liked me or not, Vaughn had come here for something. And that meant there was still some hope that I would get to hang out with him! Feeling slightly better, I sprinkled some water on my seeds then headed in my house, throwing my rucksack on the floor and pulling off my boots as I made my way to my bed.

I had a full 30 seconds of relaxation time before there was a knock on my door and Denny came in, giving me his usual smile.

"Hey Chelsea! Are you done with work? I was thinking…we should go on a date!"

That made me sit up. Denny wasn't a bad boyfriend, but he'd never shown much interest in doing anything with me, aside from fishing. Which he didn't ask me to do very often because I was horrible at it. I smiled at him. "Really? A date?"

"Yeah! That diner just opened on the east side of the island, right? We should go check it out!"

"Uh yeah..! Okay! Just let me put my boots back on."

Denny nodded and turned to look at the various paintings I had hanging on my wall. "You like art, huh? You know, I have this huge print of the first fish I ever caught…I could give it to you, if you want."

"No thanks."

"Why not? It'd look better than the crap you have hanging up now."He laughed and I gave him a horrified look.

"My sister painted these for me!"

"Your sister, huh? Looks like she's about as good at painting as you are at fishing!"

"Haha. Funny. She's really talented I'll have you know."

"Oh! Speaking of talent, I was talking to that one girl who just moved here."

"Lanna?"

"Yeah! Turns out she's some famous singer! Cool, huh? She gave me her autograph."

"Oh?" I looked up at him. He gave me a guilty smile.

"Yeah…you know she doesn't really know anyone here yet… I was thinking, why don't we invite her to come to the diner with us?"

I gawked at him. "This is supposed to be _our_ date! _Our first date_!"

"Yeah…but…"

You want to bring some other girl to dinner? Fine! Then I'm going to bring some other guy along too!"

Denny scowled. "Let me guess…Vaughn?" He continued to glare for a minute, and then a smirk formed on his mouth. "You know he's got a girlfriend, right?"

My raised my eyebrow. "Really."

"Yeah, that Sabrina girl. Man, you should have seen them laughing and holding hands on the beach this morning! "

I crossed my arms. "You're lying."

"Am I?"

I bit my lip. For all I knew, he really could have a girlfriend…then again I knew how much Denny didn't like him and this could've easily been a lie. I sighed.

"Okay. Then let's ask him if he'll go on a double date. You and me, him and Sabrina."

"WHAT?"

"You want me to believe he's dating her, right? I'll have to hear it from him to believe it!"

Denny smiled. "Sure! Why not! Let's go ask!"

We walked to the animal shop in total silence. Denny didn't seem to notice the flush in my cheeks. Even if Vaughn was going out with her…this would still be a chance to get to know him. And I wasn't about to pass that up. Still, I had to wonder why Denny suddenly looked so happy.

When we got to the shop, Vaughn was sweeping the floor.

"Hey cowboy, come here! We have a question for ya!" Denny yelled as he opened the door. I saw Vaughn's eyes narrow, then he looked at me and that same expression he always wore returned to his face. He leaned the broom against the wall.

"I'll be back in a minute, Mirabelle." We all stepped outside.

"What?" he asked, his glare locked on Denny, who smiled -no, _smirked_– and said "Chelsea and I were just thinking of going to the diner, and she was wondering if you'd like to join us. With your girlfriend, of course."

Vaughn gave me this look like he had no idea what we were talking about. I gave him a little smile. "You and Sabrina…You're dating, right?"

His eyes flashed back to Denny, his lips lifted in a snarl. "I wonder who told her that."

Denny shrugged. "Hey, I just thought it'd be fun to all hang out together. You can turn us down, of course…" He leaned towards Vaughn and muttered something under his breath. It sounded a lot like "But Chelsea will be disappointed..."

Vaughn turned his gaze back to me. He sighed a barely noticeable sigh. "…What time?"

"Six. And don't forget Sabrina!"

He gave Denny another glare and slammed the door. Denny laughed.

"See! Told you they're dating!"

"I'm not convinced. What the hell was all that about? _Chelsea will be disappointed? Don't forget Sabrina?_ "

"Oh, just guy talk. You wouldn't understand."

I looked back at the door and couldn't help but smile. Maybe the whole thing was suspicious, but who cares! I finally got my date with Vaughn!

x-x-x


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

I walked back into the animal shop, slamming the door behind me. "I can't believe he told her I'm dating Sabrina!"

"What?" I jumped at the sound of Mirabelle's voice. She raised an eyebrow at me. I quickly grabbed the broom I had leaned against the wall and turned my back to her, sweeping with new found concentration. I can't believe I'd agreed to this stupid date. Hanging out with my psycho stalker and the jerky boyfriend? I was practically sentencing myself to death here. If Chelsea hadn't looked like she really wanted me to go...

Oh, who was I kidding. Chelsea didn't want me intruding on her little date. My mind was just playing tricks on me. Desperate, stupid tricks. I had to face the facts. I wasn't just intrigued by Chelsea because of my past… But I couldn't actually be liking someone I hardly knew!

"Vaughn, stop with the sweeping already! You're going to burn a hole in my nice wood floor!" I looked down and realized I had tripled the amount of pressure on the broom, there was the smallest amount of smoke starting to rise from the over swept floor.

"Sorry…" I muttered, putting the broom aside.

"What's the matter with you? You've looked irritated since you came in. "

"I'm not irritated!"

She smiled. "You're awfully defensive."

"I'm not defensive! I-It's none of your business!" I snarled, and ran to the safety of my room. I slumped against the wall. There was no reason for me to be getting this worked up. There was no reason for me to be getting this attached to anyone. Chelsea would probably hate me but I couldn't do it. I wasn't going on the date.

At exactly ten to 6, Mirabelle opened my door. She gave me a serious stare. "Your date is here..." I glanced behind her and saw Sabrina standing there, waving. I gagged and slammed my door shut again. "So…You're going out with Sabrina?"

"I said I'd go with her to the diner. Just to hang out. "

"Since when do you hang out with anyone?"

"…..Since Denny asked me to."

"I thought you hated Denny. And Sabrina. …Ooooooohhhhh…. I get it now."

My eyes grew wide with horror. "Get what?"

"Chelsea's going to be there too, isn't she?" My face started getting warmer, giving me away. Stupid face. She smiled. "So that's what your problem is! You must really like her to set yourself up with Sabrina like this!"

I tried to protest, but Sabrina stuck her head in the door. "Aren't you ready yet?"

Mirabelle put a hand on my shoulder. "Yes he is! Have fun!" I gave her a dirty look as she ushered Sabrina and I outside.

x-x-x

We'd taken about 5 steps out the door when Sabrina began her annoying attempts small talk. "S-so Vaughn, you look really nice tonight… I couldn't believe it when Denny came by and told me about this whole…dating thing." I made the mistake of looking at her. She beamed and carried on taking that as a sign I liked what she was saying. "I mean my boyfriend? I never really thought you'd be interested in me-"

I grabbed her arm and stared right into her eyes. "Let's get this straight right now. I am not interested in you. I am only agreeing to this to kill some time. Never refer to me as your boyfriend again. Ever."

She stared for a minute then grinned hugely. "That's the first thing you've ever really said to me…! Oh wow, this date is already going so well…!" I felt my jaw drop. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS GIRL? I gave her the dirtiest glare I could manage but she continued walking and chattering on. I followed a few feet behind, glaring all the way to the diner. I stopped her just before we came to the door.

"I'm warning you. None of your stupid boyfriend crap."

"Uh-huh! Okay!"

"And stop grinning so much. It's annoying me." She wiped the smile off of her face. Maybe there was hope for her after all. We walked into the diner. Chelsea and Denny were at the table in the very center.

"Hey! You guys made it!" Chelsea smiled and waved. Denny rolled his eyes as Sabrina and I sat down across from them. "Hi Vaughn! Good to see you again!" Chelsea said, grinning.

I smiled back at her. " You too."

Sabrina made a disgusted sound. I ignored her, and she grabbed my arm possessively. "So thank you for the invitation…" She said, grinning. I made an attempt to get my arm back, and she tightened her hold. I clenched my teeth. I didn't want to make a scene, so I'd have to let her stay there. Crap.

Chelsea looked at Sabrina. "Uh…no problem…" I could practically feel the switch in her mood. "So should we get our food now, or..?"

"Oh! You guys should totally order the fish! I brought a ton in today and-" Denny began, but Chelsea cut him off.

"Can't you talk about something other than fish for once?"

"Well…I suppose I could talk about how beautiful you are…" He gave me a smile. "Hey, Vaughn. Why don't you tell Sabrina what you like about her?"

I fought to keep my anger under control and looked briefly at Sabrina. She was enjoying watching me suffer. I cleared my throat. "So uh…Your dress. It's very…unique."

Her face lit up like I'd just given her a million dollars. "Y-you really think so? I made it myself, you know. See, I had these curtains…"

"Fascinating." Chelsea said. Sabrina gave her a dirty look for cutting her off but she ignored it. We sat there in awkward silence until Denny cleared his throat.

"So I guess we should get our food then. Who wants what?"

Chelsea shrugged. "I heard that the stew's pretty good. That's what I'm getting."

I smiled. "Okay then. The stew."

Denny stared at us in disbelief. "What about my fish..? It's good, I'm telling you…" Everyone ordered the stew, aside from Denny. You can guess what he ordered. The meal was going okay, until Sabrina decided to lean over and look in my bowl.

"How come you're not eating the carrots? "

I shrugged. "Don't like them."

"But they're full of vitamins! Come on, just try a little-" Denny snorted as Sabrina fished one of the carrots out of her stew and put it on her spoon, then held it up to my mouth. Sabrina and carrot. The ultimate picture of evil. I scowled at her.

"You don't seriously expect me to eat that." She lowered the spoon, sighing in defeat.

"Man, you two are funny." Denny chuckled. Chelsea didn't look as amused. She muttered something about childishness and Denny sighed.

"Lighten up, already. Hey, I'm gonna go get us some dessert. Everyone like pie? " Denny asked, standing. Nobody seemed against the idea, so he headed towards the counter. Chelsea sighed.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"It's just this date isn't going as well as I thought it would." She gave me a smile. "Maybe next time you and I should just try doing this alone…?"

I answered with a smile as Denny returned, carrying 4 slices of pie. "Man, this looks good." He said as he handed them out.

"What kind Is it?" I asked, looking down at my piece. Chelsea took a bite of hers.

"Pumpkin. It's not bad."

I picked up my fork and took a bite. There was a bit of a crunch to it .I swallowed it then looked at the rest of my pie. I wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't been looking, but mixed in were some very, very tiny pieces of...

Of carrot. I gagged and stood up, my drink spilling all over Sabrina. She screamed, but I ignored her. "You're a total piece of crap, you know that?"

"What's wrong? " Denny asked, smiling. "I thought it'd be nice to add some vitamins to your desert. "

I picked up the pie and threw it at him. Half of it landed on Chelsea's shirt, the other half in her hair. She got up and began trying to brush it off.

Denny growled. "Look what you did! You got pie all over my girlfriend!"

"Its fine, Vaughn, don't worry-"

"I'm your boyfriend, Chelsea! Me! So why do you keep sticking up for him?" He picked up his drink and threw it all over me and Sabrina, who was now on the verge of tears. She grabbed my arm. "Vaughn, can we just go? " I yanked my arm away as the diner's owner came over.

"You! All of you, out! Before I call the cops!"

Denny gave him a look. "This island doesn't have cops."

"No, but I do happen to buy your fish every day. So if you're planning on keeping your job..?" Denny clenched a fist, then grabbed Chelsea by the arm and dragged her out of the diner, giving me a dirty look on the way. The owner looked at me. "You too."

I turned to get Sabrina, but she had already left.


	7. Chapter 7

Note: We're now in the 2nd half of the story! :D Thank you for all the reviews/hits I've been getting on this story! I really appreciate it and I hope you like the next chapter!

**Chapter 7**

Julia was sitting on one of the stools in front of Mirabelle's counter, reading a magazine. I sat down next to her, bored out of my mind. Mirabelle had left earlier that morning to get some things from the city, leaving me with nothing to do. I sighed.

Julia gave me a look. "Want to read one of my magazines? You can take a quiz to see what color nail polish suits your personality!"

I rolled my eyes. "How can you read that crap?"

She scowled. "Well at least I have something to do! Unlike you, Mr.-I'm-too-cool-to-get-a-hobby!"

I snorted. "Yeah, okay. Next time I'm in the city I'll be sure to buy a nice pair of knitting needles." I glanced absentmindedly out the window. Two weeks had passed since that horrid date at the diner, and Chelsea hadn't stopped by since.

Neither had Sabrina, but she didn't have an excuse to. Not after last week... I had taken about 3 steps off of my boat when Sabrina ran over to me, crying her eyes out. I'd asked her what was wrong, and she broke into a monologue. Something about how despite her undying passion for me, the cold soda I'd spilled on her woke her up from her dream world and made her realize that we just weren't meant to be, and not to take it too hard. Then she ran off crying and hadn't come out of her house since, as far as I know. Talk about not taking it hard.

I shook my head. How come I attract the crazy ones?

Julia flipped through a few more pages of her magazine. I was about to go nuts from lack of things to do when the door opened and Chelsea walked in, brightening my rather dreary day. "Hey guys…" She said, closing the door behind her.

"Chelsea! Where have you been?" Julia asked, closing her magazine.

"Home mostly. I've been sick." She sighed, then sneezed. "Ugh, stupid cold. I'm so behind on my work because of it."

"Aw man, that's terrible…" Julia said, handing her a tissue. Chelsea nodded.

I cleared my throat. "I could help you finish your work."

Julia gave me a teasing grin. "Yeah, Chelsea, do it! Then I won't have to listen to how bored he is!"

"You sure you don't mind?" Chelsea asked, smiling ever so slightly.

I shrugged. "It's not like I have anything else to do."

"Well….Okay then!" Chelsea grabbed my arm, and we headed back to her ranch.

x-x-x-x

"Cheers!" Chelsea said as she and I clanged together our glasses of milk. She'd finished all her yard work while I'd fed and brushed all her animals. We were now sitting on the floor pillows around the table in her house.

"Thanks for all your help today."

"No problem. You usually do all that yourself, huh?"

"Yeah. Now you know why I never have any free time."

I crossed my arms. "Denny should be helping you, not messing around with his stupid fish all day."

She gazed at the floor. "Denny says he wants his own job, and if I want to run a ranch, I'll have to do it myself…"

I rolled my eyes. "He's so irritating. Why are you even with him?"

"It's sort of hard to explain…" She flashed me a grin. "So what brought you to the island?"

"Changing the topic, huh?"

"Yup!"

I shrugged. "Work brought me here. But I like it here more than in the city anyways."

"So why don't you just move here? I mean it would save you from going back and forth all the time, right?"

"I'd still have to go there to get the animals and cargo. Besides, I just about died from boredom not too long ago. So what would I do here 24/7?"

"Umm…You could hang out with me!"

"Heh. Tempting… I'm sure Denny would like that." We both cracked a smile. "So why did you come to the island?" I asked. I was surprised at how tense she suddenly was. She glanced off to the side, shrugging.

"Umm…A change of pace?" She tucked her hair behind her ear, giving me an apologetic smile.

I blinked. "Wow. You're just full of secrets, aren't you?"

The smile stayed on her face, but I saw something deep in her stormy blue eyes stir. "Everyone has their secrets, right?"


	8. Chapter 8

Author's note: From Chelsea's P.O.V! Somewhat revealing… and a little sad.

**Chapter 8**

Sigh.

I drummed my fingers on the table, whatever Denny was screaming about going in one ear and out the other with absolutely no processing by my brain whatsoever. I turned my glazed-over stare towards my door. The door that Vaughn had just left through. Denny had dropped by to see me earlier than usual and caught Vaughn and me chatting…scandalous, I know. They had of course argued, the end result being Vaughn leaving and Denny lecturing me. Blah blah, blah blah…

"Yo, are you even listening to me?"

I blinked (how long had it been since I'd done that?) and looked him in the eye. "Yep. I can't have any friends, because of how insecure you are. Anything else?"

He narrowed his eyes. "I am not insecure! You're the one trying to cheat on me!"

I sighed and shook my head. "Denny? If I were cheating on you, then you would have walked in to find me and Vaughn in bed together. Not sitting on opposite sides of this table, drinking milk, and talking about the weather."

"…Yeah, I guess you're right." He sighed and sat down across from me. "Why do we always have to fight? I mean, we used to be such good friends before we started dating. Before we came here…"

"You being so accusational doesn't help." I said, crossing my arms.

He put his head down on the table. "Maybe we should just…you know...break up."

"No!"

"Why not? Then you and Mr. moody could live happily ever after, and I could be with someone who actually likes the same stuff as me."

I scowled. "…Lanna? You want to dump me for Lanna?"

"Ugh! And you call me accusational!" He rolled his eyes. "You don't even act like you want to be with me most of the time."

"Yeah…well…you're just too possessive. That's all."

"No …we just don't make a good couple! Man, I knew I should've never let you talk me into coming to this island with you!"

I glanced at the floor. It's not like I wanted to be with him, either… I just didn't have a choice.

"Look, I'm gonna go take a walk or something." He stood and opened the door. He waited there for a minute incase I wanted to stop him, but I didn't. He sighed and closed the door, leaving me alone to reminisce on the past….  
On my mistakes…

A few seconds later I heard a rustling sound coming from my window. I walked over to it and looked down to find Vaughn sitting there among the bushes. My jaw dropped.

"Were you _spying_ on us?"

"You could say that." He smirked. "Nice comeback about us being in bed."

"Wha- Oh. Oh god." I put my face in my hands. "I was just trying to make a point…"

"I know. It was still kinda funny though."

He walked around to the front of my house and I opened the door for him, shaking my head in disapproval. . "Jeez, I didn't think you'd be the type to spy…"

"Well he ticked me off. Just wanted to see what he'd say about me after I left…"

"Yeah well from now on I'm keeping my window shut 24/7."

He gave me a teasing smile. "So you came here to be with Denny, huh?"

"Aggggghhhhhhh!" I put my head against the wall. "Why did you have to spy on this conversation? Why couldn't you spy on one of our conversations about…oh I don't know, bunnies?"

"Because that wouldn't have been as informative."

I glared at him. "Okay, fine. I came here to be alone with Denny."

"Why?"

"It's a secret."

"Oh really? More secrets?"

"No, I'm serious. This one really is secret. As in Denny doesn't even know why."

"Okay then. How about why you don't want to dump him?"

"Also secret."

He rolled his eyes. I shrugged.

"Well it's bad enough you spied on me! Why do you have to interrogate me too?"

"Because. You're just so different than I thought you'd be."

"Huh? What does that mean?"

"Nothing." He gazed down at the floor. An evil grin slowly spread across my face.

"A-ha…So you have secrets too! And apparently they're about me!"

"Not everything's about you, you know."

"But this is!"

"…And so what If it is? Not like I'm gonna tell you."

"Why not? If it's about me then I want to know!"

"Hmm…" He put a hand to his chin. "Okay. Tell me your secrets, I'll tell you mine."

I bit my lip. Fair enough deal, but…  
But nobody knew about this. Nobody. And I'd kept it a secret for so long….

I sighed. "I'll tell you a simple version of it. I'm not getting into details. And you have to swear whatever I tell you doesn't leave this house."

He nodded.

"Okay…wait, what was that?" I heard another rustling sound coming from outside. I walked back over to my window and leaned out of it.

"Anyone there?"

I shook my head. "I'm going to be forever paranoid that someone is spying on me now, thanks to you."

He crossed his arms. "So you were saying?"

I took a breath. "I kind of did something bad back in the city. It involved Denny. But he doesn't know that it's all my fault. And I feel really guilty about it, but I can't tell him!" I glanced at Vaughn, who was watching me with a blank stare. I took another breath.

"And okay, so I don't really like him in that way at all, but I can't just leave him! Not after what I did! So I decided I had to move somewhere where we could be alone. I thought hey, if it's just me and him alone out here then maybe sooner or later I could really get to like him! But no, more people moved to this stupid island, and then I met you…and now I don't know what to do…"

I sighed and looked up to see how Vaughn would react to my most horrible secret. He still had that blank look on his face. I scowled, annoyed. "I just told you my deepest darkest secret, and that's how you react? Say something!"

He shrugged. "You lost me."

"Well I told you I wasn't getting into the details!"

"Yeah, but…what kind of summary was that? What'd you do to him that was so bad, steal his bubblegum?"

I shook my head. My annoyance at his cluelessness turned into shame. My stupid tear ducts decided to kick in right then. I could feel my eyes stinging, and a tear made its way down my cheek despite my efforts to hold it in. Vaughn put a hand on my shoulder.

"…What _did_ you do?"

I muttered the answer as quietly as I could. It sounded so awful in my head…I couldn't say it out loud. I looked up into Vaughn's eyes. He looked so worried. I took another breath.

"….I killed his parents… It's my fault they're dead."

"WHAT?"

I looked towards the closed door. Vaughn walked over and opened it to find Denny crouched down, his ear where the door had been. I made the mistake of looking in his eyes.  
They looked exactly as they had on that day his parents didn't come home.

Dead. Absolutely dead.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

I stared at Chelsea, flinching away from her a little as Denny remained motionless in the door way. Of all the things I thought Chelsea was, a murderer definitely wasn't one of them. It made me wonder if we should be taking away all of her pointy farm tools or something…

"So how'd you do it?" I asked.

Denny's eyes darted towards me. "This doesn't concern you!" He turned to Chelsea. "Tell him to get out!"

I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall. "Hard to leave with you blocking the door like that."

"Please guys, don't start arguing right now…" Chelsea gave us both pleading glances. Denny got up and walked over to her, standing in front of her with his back to me so that he was the only one who could see her. So mature.

"So how did you come to this conclusion? That you killed my parents?" He asked her.

"What do you mean?"

"Well you were there at the docks with me when the police told me they'd found my parents…Dead aboard their ship at sea…. How could that be your fault?"

" Maybe I slipped poison in their water supply…"

"What kind of poison?"

"Uh….the poisonous kind."

"Really, that is so convincing."

I tried to inch to the side so that I could get a read on their expressions, but I swear Denny was hiding a pair of eyes under that bandanna of his. Every time I took a step, he mirrored me so that seeing anything was impossible. Annoying brat. I was tempted to just grab my rope and lasso him to a chair or something. But luckily, he sighed and started pacing up and down.

"For you to do that" Denny continued, "you'd have had to go on their ship, which my folks told you not to do a billion times, because it's totally forbidden."

"Why's it forbidden?" I asked.

He gave me another glare. "There are a bunch of old stories about how if you let an outsider on your ship bad things'll happen. Like you'll get a curse put on you, or you'll get seriously ill, or your ship'll sink…Stuff like that."

"That's stupid." I said, smirking at how gullible you'd have to be to believe that.

Denny looked like he was about to say something else, but his expression suddenly changed. "Wait…_wait_… Chelsea, you didn't go on their ship…did you?"

She continued staring at the floor. Denny's shoulders dropped. "You did…didn't you…?"

"Well I didn't think anything bad would_ really _happen! I thought, you know…you guys were just hiding something on there. I just wanted to look around…"

"CHELSEA!"

I blinked. "So wait…...You went on their ship… and you think _that's_ why their dead?" She nodded , giving me a serious stare. I couldn't help laughing.

Denny clenched his fists. "You think this is a joke?"

"It's the dumbest thing I've ever heard! What kind of moron would actually believe that?"

I didn't even see it coming. I felt something connect with my jaw and suddenly found myself flat on the floor, Denny hovering over me, poised to strike again. He made a quick jab for my left eye. I could feel it swelling up already. I pushed him off and returned the favor, shoving him back against the wall. This turned into an extreme shoving- hitting match which lasted for almost a minute. I assure you it would have lasted longer, if Chelsea hadn't stepped in and grabbed Denny's arm, while someone else grabbed mine from behind. I glanced over my shoulder to find Julia's face inches from mine.

She didn't look happy.

"When did you get here?" I asked, yanking my arms out of her grip.

"Just now. I came here to see if you had finished helping Chelsea with her work yet…" She looked at Denny. "What were you guys fighting about this time?"

He shook his head, his eyes squeezed shut. He pushed past us and walked out the door. I could hear the tiniest sob escape from him as he did. I snorted, crossing my arms and glaring at his figure as it disappeared in the distance.

Julia frowned at me. "That eye of yours looks pretty bad…"

I shrugged. "Doesn't hurt too much."

"Yeah but…I think we should put something on it… Are you ready to leave, or...?"

I nodded, turning towards the door.

"Vaughn, wait." Chelsea reached out and grabbed my arm. Julia gave me a questioning look. I sighed.

"Go on back. I'll be there soon."

"Um, okay…but don't be too long, okay? See you, Chelsea." She gave us both a smile before closing the door. Chelsea let go of my arm, giving me a weak grin.

"Sorry about your eye..."

I shrugged. "Your boyfriend needs some self control."

She nodded and glanced off to the side. "Well…I only told Denny a half truth. There's more to my story."

"Oh."

She glanced up at me. "You don't want to hear it?"

"No, not really."

She crossed her arms. "You're mad at me..."

"It's not that. It's just really not any of my business."

"That didn't stop you from making me tell you about it before."

I glared at her. "I'm sick of your boyfriend giving me crap, alright? So I'm not sticking my nose in this any further. I don't even get why you want to tell me this and not Denny."

"You're just so easy to talk to…"

"So is a brick wall."

She sighed and turned towards me, staring me right in the eye with so much intensity that I had to take a step back.

"A lot of times I find myself thinking about how, if I hadn't gotten into this mess with Denny...how nice it would be to be with you."

I blinked at her. She took a breath and continued.

"So I guess I want to tell you all this because, well…I kinda sorta like you more than I intended to."

We stood there facing each other for a long moment before Chelsea's eyes started to tear up again. She took a step forward, throwing her arms around me.

"I just don't know what to do…"

I didn't mean to act like I didn't care about her or anything, she just caught me off guard when she did that. My heart started pounding way too fast and I hastily shoved her off of me. She stared up at me, her eyes still full of tears.

"J-just go talk to Denny, alright?" I said, stalking outside and slamming the door behind me. I immediately regretted my actions. I stood there debating whether or not I should go back and apologize, but I knew that I'd probably just screwed whatever relationsip I may have had with her. Because of that idiot Denny.

Bcause of my idiot self.

My eye gave another throb and I let out a stream of cuss words. Mabe this was the price I had to pay for eavesdropping. I made my way back to the animal shop, but with each step I took I grew more and more annoyed. When I finally made it to the door, I was so frustrated with Denny, Chelsea, my eye, myself, EVERYTHING . I knew that if I went in in that state julia would just pester me until I told her in elaborate detail what had happened. So I turned away and instead started walking towards the east side of the island.

I knew Julia wouldn't be happy when she found out where I was going…


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 

I sat down at one of the stools by the counter in the diner. I closed my eyes, rubbing my temples in frustration.

"Need a drink?"

I nodded as the bar guy sauntered off to fetch a bottle of whiskey, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

And I didn't like their company very much.

I mean, what with Denny's issues, and Chelsea's sudden professions of murder and affection for me, and her desperateness to tell me her little secrets, and my black eye, and all the other crap going on…

"Here you go, sir."

I took the shot glass and threw a five down on the counter. Julia would probably kill me if she caught me here drinking. Then Mirabelle would bring me back from the dead so she could kill me herself. But hey, I hadn't had a drink in ages. And this was as good an excuse as any, right? So with that in mind I ordered another one. Then another one.

When I was on my fourth one, I heard the door open and a familiar voice yell my name.

"Vaughn!"

"Great." I muttered, taking a sip of my drink as Sabrina sat down on the chair beside me, smiling at first then frowning as she saw the growing number of shot glasses piled in front of me. She muttered a hello which I pretended not to hear, turning my back to her.

She cleared her throat. "I saw you come in here and you looked kind of down...I just wondered if maybe you wanted to talk about things…?"

I put my empty glass down. "Sabrina, you are the _last _person I want to talk about things with."

She stared at me for a moment, then nodded. "I understand. You're still upset because I dumped you. But I didn't think you'd care so much-"

I let out an aggravated yell that almost made her jump out her hideous excuse for an outfit. "You don't understand anything! I couldn't care less about you! And we never went out, so stop acting like we did, alright?"

She sat there with her mouth hanging open. I ordered another two drinks and drowned them in seconds. She turned towards the counter and quietly placed an order for a drink of her own. We sat there in silence for a while, just sipping our drinks...

I glanced over at Sabrina again. She was starting to look less like a person and more like some kind of purple blob. I slumped forwards, my head on the counter, slurring something along the lines of damn the world and all the idiots that inhabit it. Sabrina-the-blob turned towards me and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Maybe we should get out of here…"

"And go where, huh? I have noooothingggg…"

"…You have me..."

Okay, I can hear you all groaning and thinking how irritating she is. And believe me, I agree. But at the time I was starting to get quite tipsy and I guess I somehow found this charming, because the next thing I remember was us staggering out of the Diner, arms around each other. She grabbed my arm and started leading me towards the well in the middle of the area, but about halfway there she tripped, pulling me down with her.

We just laid there on the ground for a minute, our faces within inches of each other. And then we started kissing. I don't know who kissed who first, so don't ask. It's bad enough I have to admit this happened…But midway into our little drunken… thing…, I heard sobbing. We both glanced up and on the other side of the well was Chelsea, her back to us. I could've just as well let her be, she probably didn't see us anyways since it was so dark out.

But no, I had to shout out "Heeeyyyy… wanna join us?" waving as I did so. She turned around and the look on her face was just devastating. She stopped crying, She didn't even make a sound. All she did was stare at us with this really dead look on her face, then walk off. I shrugged and went back to Sabrina, completely unaware of how screwed I had just made my life.

x-x-x-x

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I noticed was how crappy I felt. My eye was pulsing and my head was throbbing. I tried to sit up and the second thing I noticed was…

I had no idea whose bed I was on.

I blinked, trying to get rid of the bleariness in my vision, then glanced to the side. Sitting next to me on the puffy, obnoxiously frilly pink quilt was Sabrina. She yawned, then gave me a smile.

"Good morning Vaughn! How are you feeling?"

I could have strangled her. I got as far as putting my hands on her shoulder, at least. She gave me a confused look.

"What's wrong?"

"Why the hell am I sitting on your bed?"

"…Because you wanted to?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Come again?"

"Well last night I asked if you wanted me to take you back to the animal shop and you said something about not wanting to bother, so…So I brought you here instead!"

I shoved her backwards against the wall in frustration and stood up, rubbing my head. "You stupid idiot!"

She made a whimpering noise. I turned to her again. "Don't you remember when I told you I wanted nothing to do with you? So where the hell would you get the idea that I'd want to spend even one SECOUND here with you?"

"You acted like you did last night…"

"While I was _inebriated_! Even an idiot like you should know not to listen to someone when they're _drunk_!"

She put a hand to her chin. "So you were drunk when you told me to stay away from you..?" She gave me a hopeful smile. Probably thought she was being cute or something. I just shook my head and turned towards the door. I could hear her scrambling off of the bed and chasing after me. "W-wait! You're not leaving me, are you…?"

I waited until she had caught up to me, then slammed the door in her face.

x-x-x-x

"Vaughn!" The moment I turned the doorknob and stepped foot in the store, Julia ran up to me and threw her arms around me.

"Where have you been?" I heard Mirabelle's voice calling from the kitchen. She walked up to us and crossed her arms. "Do you know how worried we were?"

"What, I can't go out for a few hours without everyone panicking?" I asked. I didn't mean to be short with her, but I really wasn't in the mood to be nagged. Julia let go of me, looking almost as mad as her mother.

"You told me you'd be back quickly! I was worried about you! And now look at how bad your eye is!" She said, copying Mirabelle's stance.

I glowered at them. "It's not a big deal. Not like you two were out looking for me."

This got me a slap in the face from Mirabelle. "Now you listen here, Vaughn! I've looked after you for a long time now, and when you do these kinds of things, well…I don't appreciate it! You know what it's like, having to deal with this stupid tough guy act of yours? Worrying about if you're okay? If you're happy? It's not easy, trying to guess what you're thinking all the time!"

I stood there and glared at them for a long moment. "Sorry I bothered you."

"No, that's not what I meant-"

I turned and walked back out the door, slamming it behind me. As my luck would have it, Chelsea was standing right there, staring me down.

"What?"

"What the hell is your problem?" She screamed, taking a step forward so that she was right in my face. "You think you can just toy with my feelings like that?" I gave her a look like I didn't know what she was talking about. This seemed to make her even angrier. "Last night? You making out with Sabrina? And then _going home with her_?"

"Oh." She took a step back, still fuming. I shook my head. "Well it's not like we did anything. Besides, you're still with that fish head, so I don't know how you can stand here and patronize me!."

"Because I told you how I felt, and you just rubbed your little fling with Sabrina in my face! And after you told me you didn't have any interest in her, too!"

"I was drunk. I had no idea what I was doing."

"Oh, so now you're a drunk too!"

I was really getting pissed off with this. I took a step towards her this time. "No I am _not_ a drunk, the only reason I got drunk was because _you_ keep dragging _me_into your problems! So get the hell off of my back, and stop putting all of your problems on me, because it's driving me nuts!"

She stared at me, trying to think of a comeback. I didn't give her a chance.

"You know what? I've had it with you, and Sabrina, and Julia and Mirabelle….So tell anyone who cares that I'm leaving this island...

And this time, I'm not coming back."


	11. Chapter 11

Author Note: Here's the newly rewritten chapter 11! :D

**Chapter 11**

Leaving the island two weeks ago had been a stupid, stupid idea. I was totally alone here in the city. I had no job. All I had was the crappy shed my _loving _parents had shoved me in, and the glares of all the poor city idiots to keep me company.

I'd thought about returning to the island about ten minutes after I'd left, but come on….I'd totally screwed myself over. Mirabelle probably would've welcomed be back with open arms (or a good whack on the head, you never could tell with her). She and Julia were just good people like that. Good people who deserved better than me.

Then there was….her.

I hadn't thought about Chelsea in the 2 weeks since I'd left. I'd start to sometimes, but I'd make myself stop. That look on her face when I told her I was leaving… It haunted me. It made me feel worse than anything else to think that I'd left her, and that she might be as miserable as I was because of that.

But that was probably all in my head. After all, she'd never actually implied that she liked me, other than the one night just before I left. When everything got so screwed up.

_"I like you more than I intended to,"  
_  
What the hell was that suppose to mean? That she didn't totally hate me? It didn't necessarily mean she liked me, and I didn't want to read that much into it. She and Denny were probably back together by now, both forgetting that I'd even existed in their lives for a few months. Which meant _I_ needed to forget I ever knew Chelsea. Or I'd be miserable for a long, long time.

It was with this mentality that I had gone to bed and woken up each morning with.

But this particular morning was different. I woke up with the sun shining right in my face, as usual. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, cussing at my window, as usual. But as I was getting out of bed I heard this weird ripping-scraping-tearing sound coming from outside my door.

_Another morning full of_ _aggravation_, I thought, pulling on some pants so I could go outside and see who the hell was messing with my house.

And that's when my door came off.

I shouldn't really say 'came off'. Because someone _took it off, _while I was still putting on my pants. I quickly pulled them on and stomped over to my door frame, ready to give whoever had just messed up my morning a piece of my mind. I poked my head outside and scowled at a girl standing a few feet away, holding what had 2 minutes ago been my door.

She glanced at me. "Oh. I didn't know someone was living in there."

I blinked at her. There was no way…

There was no way I was staring Chelsea right in the face.

I felt an odd tugging sensation in my chest. I gulped.

"Chelsea?"

She narrowed her eyes. "What?"

I blinked a few times and refocused on the girl in front of me. She was taller, and her eyes were a shade darker, with a slightly wild look to them. Her hair was the same color, but it was shorter, and rather unkempt. Then there was her outfit, a purple velvet jacket, green and yellow skirt and blue flip-flops.

Not Chelsea.

I could feel my face getting warm. I forced myself to look away.

"Uh…Sorry…thought you were someone else."

She continued to glare. "Oh."

She almost looked mad at me_. _It ticked me off. What did she have to be mad about? I'm the one who had the rude awakening-slash-door pilfering! So if anyone had the right to be mad, it was me!

"What's your problem?" I asked, not looking at her. Even if she wasn't Chelsea, the resemblance was remarkable. And it unnerved me. "Who the hell goes around stealing people's doors?"

"I'm not stealing it. I was just trying to add your shed into my painting, and your hideous door was bugging me."

I couldn't believe my ears. "What?"

She shrugged, putting my door on the ground and picking up a collection of art supplies a few feet away. I shook my head in disbelief. The arrogance of city people never ceased to amaze me, but _this_? This was a first. How many people can actually say this has happened to them?

"I'll put it back when I'm done, so don't have a fit. If you don't like it just, I don't know, go for a walk or something." She told me, setting up a canvas. I scowled. No one barks orders at me like that! I opened my mouth to tell her to put my door back and buzz off, and she looked at me.

With her very Chelsea-ish eyes. My words caught in my throat.

"Yeah?"

"…Don't go in my house while I'm out." I muttered, and went back in my house, pulled on a shirt, and left. She gave me a little smile as I walked past her.

I felt like a total idiot. Of course Chelsea wouldn't have come here to find me, I was an idiot for getting my hopes up like that. And I was even more of an idiot for letting that girl walk over me like that- just because she looked like Chelsea. It was pathetic. A pathetic reminder that I needed to forget Chelsea.

Immediately.

x-x-x

Going out had turned out to be a good thing.

It had prompted me to get a start on job hunting, which I'd been putting off for the past two weeks. Getting a new job would help me put my past behind me. Not to mention the fact that I was running low on funds, and running back to mommy and daddy for money was the last thing I wanted to do.

But finding a job wasn't working out as easily as I thought it would. I'd interviewed at cafés ($4.99 for a cup of joe? Forget it), clothing stores ($600 for some shoes? It's getting worse…), and bookstores (…Those weren't too bad, actually). Even burger joints wouldn't hire me! Why?

I had a resume that read "animal ranching high school dropout". That doesn't make me sound very intelligent, I know, but I at least look competent enough to flip some burgers, don't I?

I scowled, glancing around. One more. There was one more store on this street I hadn't tried yet, a bakery. If they didn't hire me, I'd call this whole job hunting thing quits. I took a deep breath and pushed open the door.

"…Hell no."

Everything was lacy, with lime green ribbons. I could smell cookies baking in an oven. There was a sign over the counter that said "made with love".

"Can I help you?" A tubby woman asked, walking out from what looked like the kitchen area.

"Uh…"

"Too many choices, huh?"

More like not enough choices-in jobs. But if I wanted one badly enough….

"Do you…have any jobs available?"

She tilted her head, smiling at me slightly. My face was almost as red as her pixie cut.

"Well….I can't say that I can really see you working here, Can you bake?"

"….Somewhat."

"How are your people skills?"

I shrugged. This was hopeless. I turned to leave and something hit the back of my arm. An apron.

"Tell you what. I'll give you a one week trial period. Come in tomorrow and we'll see if we can find something for you to do."

The next day I got up before the sun had risen, threw on my new uniform (lime green apron and matching bandanna to be wrapped around my forehead) and shut my door. My new door. The girl had put my door back alright. After doing me the favor of painting it tye-dye colors. (I'd have to remember to stop by the paint store on the way home.)

I walked down the street and arrived at the bakery at 7:56, just in time, still so amazed that I'd gotten the job that I didn't even mind the stupid uniform. As I pushed open the door, someone else pushed it at the same time. I glanced sideways.

The someone was wearing the bakery uniform and was staring at me with very Chelsea-ish eyes.


	12. Chapter 12

Author Note: Finally, here's the next chapter! It's a Chelsea chapter.  
Be sure to go back and re-read chapter 11. I hated the other chapter 11…So I totally rewrote it! :D I know it's a pain to go back and re-read stuff, but I promise I won't be rewriting any other chapters. XD Anyways, hope you enjoy!

**Chapter 12  
**  
I opened my eyes.

My pillow was wet again.

I sat up and put my face in my hands, taking a few deep breaths to calm myself. Every night since Vaughn had left, I'd dreamt about him. Every single night.

I wiped away my tears, flustered with myself. It was always the same dream, too. I could tell that much. But it was hazy and out of focus, like some forgotten memory. It was hard to see. I could see me as a little girl, crying…. and then a glimpse of Vaughn…

And the rest was a blur.

I'm not sure why it made me cry. Maybe because it bugged me that I couldn't tell what the dream was about. And it bugged me how real it seemed, despite the severely lacking details. And it especially bugged me that it had Vaughn in it.

I'd known I'd liked him. I just hadn't realized how much until he left. Until that first Wednesday when he didn't arrive at the island, and I knew he was really gone. And I was totally alone here on the island. Well okay, not _alone_, but there was no one here for me to talk to anymore. No one could hold my attention for more than 5 seconds before I'd start spacing out. And no one really tried to talk to me. Everyone had heard some form of the story of why Vaughn left, and everyone seemed to blame me for his absence.

Even I blamed me.

And the worst part was that I couldn't even figure out _why _he left. I remember he was mad at me because of something dumb, and then I yelled at him, and he got even madder and said he was leaving. It was stupid and overly emotional and such a screwed up night…I probably wouldn't even remember it by now if it weren't for the fact that, you know…He left.

I wanted to go get him. To track him down and apologize. I thought about asking for a ride to the city, but when I realized who owned the boat at the docks…Who I'd have to ask…

I didn't think Denny would even listen to my request, much less take me. And I couldn't blame him.

Because he had been part of the messed up night too.

But I had to swallow my fear and ask. It's not like I could ignore him for the rest of my life. And I had to believe that if I did get Denny to take me then I might be able to track Vaughn down once I was back in the city. And I at least owed Denny an apology….

And the truth.

I sighed, laid back down and closed my eyes. I'd have to own up to my mistakes after a little more sleep...

x-x-x

I left my house around ten and headed for the beach. I had calmed my nerves a little, but I was still wasn't looking forward to seeing Denny…I took a deep breath and forced myself to walk over to his beach house.

I raised a fist and knocked lightly on Denny's door, my heart pounding with uncertainty. I waited a few seconds and knocked again, then again. Even if he was still mad, I didn't think he would ignore me like this….

I knocked once more, hard, then pressed my face against his window. His place was empty. I heard footsteps behind me and turned around as Elliot dropped a box on the pier.

"Uh, hey, Elliot? You don't know where Denny is, do you?"

He glanced at me and shook his head. "I know he left a few days ago, but I don't know where he was headed."

I glanced at the dock where Denny's boat usually was. Sure enough it was gone. Crap. I thanked Elliot and wandered off, not paying any particular attention to where I was going.

So much for going to apologize. And so much for seeing Vaughn again. But it really bugged me.

Where was Denny?

By the time I started paying attention to where I was, I found myself just a few steps away from the animal store. I fought the urge to run away. This place had Vaughn written all over it…. Maybe that's just what I needed. A good ol' dose of Vaughn-ness. I took a deep breath and pushed open the door, not sure what to expect.

Julia was leaning on the counter with Mirabelle. The both looked up.

"Chelsea! It's nice to see you again!" Julia said, with an obviously forced smile. I laughed weakly. Maybe this had been a bad idea…

"So how've you been? How's the farm?" Mirabelle asked. I shrugged.

"Fine." Talking to them felt weird now…It was pathetic. "It's okay…"

"That's good."

We stood there staring at each other in awkward silence for what seemed like an eternity. This had definitely been a bad idea.

I gave them a little smile, "Sorry, guys…" and turned towards the door.

"**OH FORGET IT**!" Julia and I both jumped as Mirabelle slammed her fist down on the counter. "If he isn't gonna come back to us, then let's go to him!"

I turned around. "Huh?"

"Vaughn! Let's go get Vaughn! Let's go to the city and bring him back!"

My heart started pounding. "W-we're going to the city? How?"

"There's a shipment of cargo coming in tomorrow. We'll just hop on board once everything gets unloaded." Mirabelle gave me a triumphant smile.

I couldn't say anything. All I could do was grin and nod. Julia jumped up and down beside me.

"Yeah! A group mission to bring home Vaughn!"

Of course I was happy with the idea of seeing Vaughn again! How could I not be? But when I started thinking about going to the city, I realized…

What if Vaughn never wanted to see meagain?

…What if _she_ never wanted to see me again?


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

I closed my newly repainted black door, locked it, and headed off to work, vaguely aware of the fact that Kara, the Chelsea-double from the other day, was waiting for me just a few feet away. She smiled at me, and shook her head when she saw my door.

"So. You repainted it."

I dropped my keys in the pocket of my apron. "Yep."

"What was wrong with the tye-dye? Too bright?"

I shrugged. "I'm not a very bright person."

"Ha. You said it, not me."

I rolled my eyes. You may be wondering why I was talking with the maniac door thief. You may be wondering why she was waiting for me outside my house, and how I'd found out her name was Kara. Simple.

I was forced to work with her at the bakery I was temporarily employed at.

In all honesty the job wasn't bad. I was in charge of baking the cookies and cakes and Kara was in charge of making them look artistically decorated. I'd found out she was a local artist, which explained why she was painting outside my house the otherday...

She grabbed my arm as we walked down the street.

"So, you're gonna come, right?"

"Don't know."

"Oh come on! You're like the only somewhat sorta friend I have!"

"I'll think about it."

Apparently some of her stuff was put in a gallery, and would be shown in an art exhibition. She wanted yours truly to go. Not that I minded (what else was there to do?) but it was strange, voluntarily hanging out with Kara. She still reminded me of Chelsea, and it still made me feel weird looking at her. But the more I did hang out with her, the easier it got. They might look alike, but they were pretty different. And those differences were helping me to slowly forget.

Take how they dressed, for example. Today Kara was wearing a red pleather jacket, a green and yellow polka dot skirt, and bright orange boots. With the mandatory green apron thrown on top. I have to admit I liked it. There was absolutely no one else in the world who could actually wear something like this, and it somehow look okay.

x-x-x

We made it to the bakery and took our places in the baking room at the back of the store. I sighed and picked up a huge sack of flour, dumping a generous amount in one of the many giant mixing vats. If a few weeks ago someone had told me I'd be working here, I'd think they were nuts. But I wasn't going to complain. I was just glad to have a job, and I wasn't going to do anything to mess it up.

Kara shoved a cookie shaped like a duck under my nose. "Look, I gave the duck a mowhawk."

You can tell she takes her job seriously. I gave her a quick grin, then focused on my work. I went about my business for almost a full two hours before the manager, the red haired lady who'd given me the job, came in to check on my progress.

"Not bad, not bad…" She said, inspecting a tray of cookies I had just taken out of the oven. "I'm going on my lunch break. Want to take over the counter while I'm out?"

I nodded, wiping my floury hands on my apron, and went to stand behind the counter. For some strange reason we hardly ever had customers during lunch hours. We got mostly afternoon buyers, stopping in to pick up their order for a cake then running off. Which was fine with me. It made this job even easier.

I'd sold a total of two cookies when I saw him.

I didn't really notice him the first time he walked by the shop….But then he backed up and pressed his face against the window. It took me a minute to recognize him as he walked through the door.

I narrowed my eyes. What the hell did _he _want?

Denny walked up to the counter, smiling. "You were hard to track down, you know that?" He glanced around. "A bakery, huh?"

I crossed my arms. "What brings you here?"

He sighed, his eyes staring directly into mine. "Okay... I know I have no right to, but...I have to ask. Can you come back to the island?"

"_What_?" I glanced over my shoulder. Kara seemed too into her icing to pay me any attention. I lowered my voice. "Why would _you _want me to come back?"

"Not…For me. For other people."

I knew what he was getting at. I couldn't help smirking. For old time's sake. "What, you two aren't back together?"

"She doesn't hang out with me anymore... And I know she likes you, so I didn't want to try…I mean, I know you and me didn't get off on the right foot, but…" He shook his head. "Look, you've gotta come back! She's all depressed without you there!"

I took a breath. I hadn't given much thought to how miserable _she _might still be, and the guilt started to return. I slammed a fist down on the counter. There was just no getting past this, was there? Just when I thought I could finally get on with my life….

Denny saw how hesitant I was. "Come on man, why not? You can't pretend you don't miss her, even a little!"

I glanced to the side. That was the whole problem, wasn't it? That I _couldn't_ stop missing her. I took another breath, determined not to let my emotions overtake my reasoning.

"Sure I miss her. But I'm doin alright here. Not great, but ok. I don't want to go back and deal with all that crap again. Not just with her, but with everyone else. I want a fresh start."

Denny started to say something else, but he glanced over my shoulder and froze, his eyes widening.

"What's-" I started to ask, but he cut me off.

"Just promise you'll think about it, alright? Please!" He gave me a hard stare and quickly turned and ran out the door, just as Kara joined me at the counter. She started at the spot where Denny had been standing just a few seconds before.

"…Who was that?" Her voice was strangely flat.

I tried to refocus my thoughts."Uh, j-just a guy. I used to know. Came in to say hi."

"Oh?" She looked at me, her eyes emotionless. "…Denny?"

I blinked. "You know him?"

"Oh, I know him…." Something in her eyes changed, and she pushed me to the side. She ran out the door, slamming it shut behind her with so much force one of the glass panels broke.

I could only stare after her blankly, and slightly breathless, wondering what I was missing, and whether I should chase after them…

Or chase after Chelsea.

x-x-x  
Author Note: Sorry about the crappy ending here. I wanted to post this chapter as soon as I finished editing it, before it turned into a whole month before I updated again. See? I'm trying to update faster! :D  
Anyways, the story's going to end at around Chapter 16, since some of you are probably wondering. I'm hoping this story can make it to 50 reviews by then! (wow that's a lot XD) Think it can do it?


	14. Chapter 14

**Author Note:**Want to know what took me so long to update? I didn't know what that one room on a boat was called, the one where passangers sleep and such. And I kept forgetting to look it up XD But apparently it's called a "berthing". Strange, huh?

**Chapter 14**

It was strange, but…

It all seemed so real…

"Chelsea!"

My eyes snapped open as Julia grabbed me by my shoulders, shaking me. "Wake up! Mom said to wake you up! We're here! The city!"

I grabbed her arms so that she'd stop shaking me. "Julia! I'M UP!"

"Oh." She stepped back, smiling brightly. "You ready? It's Vaughn hunting time!"

I nodded, getting up from the chair I'd fallen asleep in, inside the ship's berthing room. She grabbed my wrist and dragged me outside, onto the ship's bow. I know I wasn't acting very excited, despite how badly I'd wanted to come here and track Vaughn down just a few days ago. But I was getting that weird sort of feeling that you get when someone wakes you up from a dream you were really absorbed in. It was that same dream I told you about last time, the one where I was little, with Vaughn. But this time, it had been clear enough to tell what was going on!

I had been walking home from school when a group of boys pushed me down and started picking on me, making me cry. They stole the necklace that my mother made me…And I was so afraid that they were going to run off with it. But then I saw Vaughn and…

And that's when Julia woke me up.

I sighed. Just when I finally thought I could see the whole thing….

I leaned against the ship's railing, glancing at the city laid out in front of us. "Where's Mirabelle?"

Julia put a hand to her forehead, shielding the sun from her eyes. "Talking to the captain. She should be finishing up soon."

"Oh…" Then something occurred to me. "You guys know where Vaughn lives…right?"

Julia blinked. "Um…"

"Do you have his number?"

"…W-well I'm sure my mom has all that info! She'll know where to find him!" She said, with a not totally reassuring smile as Mirabelle stepped into view.

"Hey you two, ready to get going?"

I nodded. Julia gave her a tentative smile.

"You know _where _we're going, right mom?"

"You mean, do I know where Vaughn lives? No."

We all stood there, staring at each other for a second. Then panic set in.

"Y-you mean we came all the way here, and none of us have any idea where to look for him?" Julia asked, slight hysteria in her voice. She gave me a look. I took a step back.

"Hey, you two work with him! I thought you had records on him or something!"

Mirabelle sighed. "Okay, guys, calm down. It's not as bad as you're making it out to be. We just need to split up and ask around. Surely someone here has seen him."

"Oh really? Well what if he's just been hiding away in his house for the past month! You know he could have!"

"Julia, I said calm down! We'll figure it out! Look, I'm going to go book us a hotel so we'll have somewhere to stay tonight. You two split up and look around. Chelsea, you look in the southern part of the city. Julia, ask around the northern side. We'll meet up back here at 6, got it?"

I tapped my fingers on the boat's railing. "Could uh….Could I look around the upper side instead?"

"You know your way around there?" Mirabelle asked. I gave her a smile.

"I won't get lost. And I won't be tempted to shop in every clothing store like Julia would…"

Julia opened her mouth to protest but Mirabelle cut her off. "You've got a point…"

The run down southern part of the city would have been a _lot_ easier to find Vaughn in…And since that was where I grew up, I knew the area pretty well. But it would be a lot easier to run into people I knew there.  
Well, people I _used _to know.

I walked to the heart of the city and glanced around. It was just so huge! Street after street after store after random alley…There was no way I could look everywhere! I sat down on a bench outside an ice cream parlor. I had to come up with some sort of plan. Maybe I could start by crossing off the places Vaughn probably wasn't.

"Let's see…Chic Boutique? I can't see him shopping in there. Mary's Bridal, definitely not. Movie Hut?" I put a hand to my chin. What kind of movie _would _Vaughn watch….? Horror? Western? I shook my head.

_You're getting off track, Chelsea…_

I stood up and put my hands on my hips. I had to stop procrastinating. I took a breath and walked into the Pizzeria across the street.

**x-x-x  
**  
Vaughn wasn't in there. He wasn't in any of the stores on that street, the street next to it, or any of the 6 streets next to them! And nobody had seen any guys in black cowboy gear walking around lately. I put my head in my hands, leaning against the brick wall of a barber shop. HE WAS NOWHERE.

"_Why don't you mind your own business?"  
_  
I lowered my hands.

_"It is my business!"  
_  
I blinked, glancing around. I _knew _those voices… I tried to keep myself from breathing too hard and peered around the corner of the barber's. Just a few stores down was Denny, in another one of his shouting matches with…

…Kara…

My heart sunk just looking at her. I knew how livid she must be at me. Poor Denny was standing there getting the blame. If I were a good person, I would step in right now. …Okay, cross that out. If I were a _brave _person with any sense of loyalty I would step in right now. But I wasn't. I was a coward. And I definitely wasn't ready to have to explain myself.

I hid back behind the corner. I was debating whether or not to make a run for it when I heard a third voice, one I didn't recognize.

"Kara, come back inside, your brake is over!"

"No it isn't! I get half an hour to do whatever I want, and what I want is to stand out here and interrogate him!"

"Vaughn says you've been out here since one! And since it's now almost two, I'd say your time's up!"

I put a hand over my mouth and resisted the urge to peer around the corner again. Maybe I'd heard her wrong….

Or maybe Vaughn was working there.

With…my sister?

I blinked. Why was he working with my sister?

I chanced another peek. Kara was walking back into the store with a red haired woman, and Denny was standing there shaking his head. My curiosity was killing me. I _had _to find out….But it was too risky to try going into the store to see Vaughn, especially with Kara in a bad mood.

But maybe Denny could give me some info…

He turned around. I waved at him.

"C-Chelsea?"

I put a finger to my lips, hoping he hadn't just given me away. He walked up to me. "What are you-HEY!"

I pulled him to the safety of the other side of the wall. "Is he working in there?"

Denny crossed his arms. "Nice to see you too. "

"Ok, I'm sorry. It's so nice to see you again Denny. How've you been? Now tell me what's going on!"

He smiled a little. "That's better, I guess. Your psycho sister just gave me the lecture of the century. She thinks I kidnapped you and was holding you hostage somewhere!"

"What? I left her a note before I left home! I told her I was running away with you to the island! How did she get that you _kidnapped_ _me _from that?"

"I don't know, but man, she's in a bad mood…Oh! And guess who I saw in there!" He gave me a grin. "I spent like three whole days trying to find him, and where was he? In a bakery of all places!"

I blinked. "Vaughn's working in a bakery…?"

"Yep! Funny, huh? He's wearing an apron and some goofy bandana and everything!"

I smiled at the image for a moment. "But wait, why were _you _looking for him?"

"Uh…" He put his hands in his pocket. "For you. I knew you weren't happy without him, so uh…I wanted to try and help."

I thought my cheeks were going to explode from grinning so much. I threw my arms around him "Oh my gosh, thank you! I was starting to get really overwhelmed, it's impossible to find anyone here!"

"…yeah…"

I let him go, my face bright red. "Denny? I'm sorry…I know I was kind of mean to you these last few months. And um…I know I owe you an explanation…"

"...Oh. You know, I'd almost forgotten about that." He stared at me, and just like that there was a wall between us again.

I sighed. "Okay, look, the truth is-"

"Hold it." He crossed his arms, glancing around the corner. "Is this something you need to tell your sister too?"

"…Well sort of, but I wasn't planning on talking to her right now-"

"You need to."

"But-"

"You can't avoid her forever. I can't avoid her forever. Let's just go and-"

"No!"

"You'll have to if you want to see Vaughn."

"No I don't! I can just stay here and wait until he leaves and follow him home!"

Denny sighed. "That's kinda pathetic. I don't want to stand around here waiting on them all day. It looks suspicious."

"Fine…Where are you going to be?"

"If you want to talk, meet me at that coffee shop over there after you're done stalking him."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay."

"And if you're planning on telling me the rest of that…well …just make sure you bring Kara."

"What? Why?"

"Please. You're not going to want to tell it again later, are you?"

I gulped. "No."

He nodded, and went off down the street. I turned back to the bakery. I knew when I came here that this was probably going to happen…But now that it actually was I found myself almost wishing I hadn't come.

Was Vaughn really worth it? Come to think of it, it was his fault that I'd spilled my guts in the first place. And when I'd tried to confess the rest of my mistakes to him, he'd gotten all mad and stormed off!

I sighed, slumping down onto the concrete. How could I wait for Vaughn, talk to Kara, get her to come with me to see Denny, spill my guts out to them, _in a public coffee shop _no less, and then be all fine and dandy and get back to the docks on time with Julia and Mirabelle?

Suddenly my life seemed very complicated.

**x-x-x**  
So to answer the questions in my reviews (up to 46! yay!)  
1. No worries, I'm not going to abandon this story. There's no way I would put this much work into it just to quit this far in XD If I was going to abandon a story, I'd do it after like chapter 1 or 2, and then come back with a totally rewritten version.  
2. 20 chapters for 60 reviews? That would definately make faint with joy XD. I'm not sure if I can stretch it out that long, just because I'm afraid that if I do the story will get too long and boring. But I can make it 18...  
Actually this leads me to another question, but I'll ask that in another chapter or two. XD So as always, review and let me know what you think!


	15. Chapter 15

**Author Note: **I wrote this chapter at a pace of 2-3 sentences per day. I've been sick for almost a whole month. -_- It sucks. But , to make up for the wait...who wants a little Chelsea and Vaughn reunion? ;)

**CHAPTER 15**

After the whole Denny calamity, the rest of the day had been annoyingly slow. Kara had come back inside the bakery an emotionless zombie, and hadn't said a word. I couldn't care less. The whole thing had put me in a bad mood too. So when it was finally time to quit work for the day, all I wanted to do was go home, take some medicine for my headache and sleep for a week.

So you can imagine how happy I was when, the moment I stepped outside, it started drizzling.

Kara sighed. "Watch, as soon as I cross the street, it'll start pouring down."

_Then don't cross the street, just stay there_. I thought. If I had been in a better mood I would have said it, but neither one of us were in the mood to joke around.

We walked down to the corner and crossed the street. As I was crossing, I saw a flash of chestnut hair from the corner of my eye. I turned to look, but there was no one there.

"You'll get hit by a car if you just stand in the road like that." Kara called from the sidewalk. I shook my head and hurried across, just as a flash of lightning lit up the rapidly darkening sky. We glanced around for shelter as the rain started pouring down. Kara pointed to a nearby café. I nodded and followed her inside to wait out the storm.

I looked around the café, which was decorated in golds and browns, with round wooden tables and chairs. Towards the back was a small fireplace.

"Sit over there. We'll dry off quicker."

We sat at the table closet to the fire. Kara pulled off her wet jacket and hung it on the back of her chair. This day had gone from irritating to just plain crappy. Now I was stuck in this cramped café, soaking wet, for who knew how long. I sighed. At least it wasn't noisy…

I glanced at Kara. She was slumped over, her head on the table. I leaned back in my chair, closing my eyes. I couldn't be bothered to ask her what was wrong. I had my own things to think about.

Like Denny. He'd tracked me down "for the sake of Chelsea's happiness". But last time I'd seen him he was ticked off at her, for liking me! So why would he suddenly care about her happiness, especially if it meant us being together? And what was going on between him and Kara? She ran outside looking like she wanted to murder him, but when she came back inside the bakery, she was all…quiet. Emotionless. And she'd been like that for the rest of the day. Still, it was none of my business, and I didn't want to get involved.

But maybe I already was.

I heard a jingling sound and opened my eyes. Kara had emptied out the contents of her jacket pocket. Keys, a sharpie, one of those stress reliever balls. She frowned. "Can I borrow some money? I'm thirsty."

I fished some change out of my pocket, not paying attention to what I was handing her. I closed my eyes again.

I wondered how things were at the animal shop. How were Julia and Mirabelle? How was Julia's relationship with the nerd going? I even vaguely wondered what Sabrina was up to, if she had moved on to obsessing over someone else.

And Chelsea….what was I suppose to think about her? I still felt bad that I left things like I did. But what choice did I have? That stupid secret of hers…what the hell was it? Did she really kill Denny's parents? Why? And if she didn't…

Why would she have lied about it?

I smiled, despite my mood. Even if I saw her now…what would I say? What would we talk about? It would just be too awkward…

It was dumb, how I'd gotten wrapped up in all this just because I thought she gave me some stupid coin.

"I should just spend the thing…" I muttered, reaching in my pocket.

That's when I realized it was gone.

The coin.

I searched all my pockets. Nothing. I glanced over at the coffee counter. Kara was just approaching it to order.

I jumped out of my chair and rushed over to her, almost knocking over several tables and some random by standers on the way.

"Uh, yeah, I'll take a medium mocha toffee cappuccino with- HEY!"

I snatched the money out of her hand and looked through the coins.

Gone.

It was gone.

"What do you think you're doing, snatching money from a lady like that?" The guy behind the counter asked, looking like he was about to call security or something. I quickly handed the money back to Kara, and turned towards the door.

"Wait, where are you going, Vaughn?"

"Out… I think I dropped something."

She started to say something else, but I ignored her and headed for the door. It was still raining.

What was I thinking, going out in a storm to find some stupid coin?

I could be a real idiot sometimes.

I saw something on the ground near the street. I walked over and bent down to pick it up. Someone else reached for it at the same time. I glanced up.

Stormy grey eyes stared back at me.

It was like I was frozen. I couldn't think. I couldn't move. I couldn't say anything.

Chelsea stared back at me in that same frozen way.

There was another flash of lightning. She closed her eyes, shuddering.

"What the hell are you doing out in this weather? I thought you hated storms!" I grabbed her arm and we headed back inside the café.

Kara walked up to me. "Idiot. Here." She held out her hand. "Is this what you were looking for?"

I took the coin from her and inspected it. I nodded, smiling.

Maybe this day was going to be good after all.

She took a sip of her drink. "It looked old, so I put it in my pocket. I was gonna give it back, but you ran off too fast."

"Thanks." I winced as a sharp pain shot up my arm. Chelsea was clenching the life out of it, her eyes glued on Kara.

"What's wrong?" Kara asked, and her gaze traveled down my arm and landed on Chelsea.

And just when I thought the day was getting better...

all hell broke loose.


	16. Chapter 16

We're getting close to the end now! :( I'm going to ignore all my other stories so that I can get this one finished by the end of the year XD I had this written a _lot_ differently at first, but after I had uploaded it and was reading through it to check for typos, I started rewriting again. I guess Kara and Chelsea's true inner selves came out XD  
I think it's a little sad, so brace yourself as Chelsea finally tries to put things right!

**Chapter 16**

My eyes stayed locked on Kara's. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't look away. My hand clutched Vaughn's arm more tightly.

Kara narrowed her eyes and gripped her cup of coffee with so much force it started spilling over the rim of the cup.

"What the hell, Chelsea?"

My eyes widened in surprise as she pushed me against the wall, her hands pinning down my shoulders. I closed my eyes and turned my head away.

"Why did you do that to me? Why'd you just run off and abandon me like that? …Why'd you run off with my boyfriend?"

I tried to push her off. "I'm sorry, Kara, I didn't have a choice-"

"What's that suppose to mean?"

The chatter of the café had stopped, and everyone was now watching us. She realized this and let me go, turning to the people of the café. As she went off to yell at an elderly couple that had been staring at us, I saw Denny waving to me from the corner of my eye. He'd been waiting at the other side of the café. I motioned for him to come over.

"Aw man…She's livid..." He said.

I rolled my eyes. "No duh, captain obvious."

We sat at some tables at the back of the room, near a fireplace. Denny sat down next to me, Vaughn across from me. They didn't say anything, and neither did I. I knew Kara would be mad at me. I just didn't know she'd be _this_mad. And I had no idea how to calm her down.

Vaughn crossed his arms. "Okay. I have to know. What was that about?"

I glanced at him, not sure how to answer. Denny answered before I could.

"You know they're related, right? Chelsea and Kara?"

Vaughn got a look on his face like he most certainly did not know. Denny nodded.

"Yep. Now, did you know Kara was gonna get engaged? ...To me? Before Chelsea and I left together."

Vaughn stared at me, a mix of shock and disgust and 50 other things on his face. I gulped. If that explanation sounded bad to me, it had to sound fifty times worse to him…

I grabbed his hand from across the table. "It's not as bad as it sounds, I promise! Please don't leave again!"

He still didn't look pleased with me, but at least he didn't pull his hand away or try to leave. I blinked back tears of gratitude. If he could just stay with me through this, then….

Then maybe we would have a chance.

The café slowly filled with chatter again. Kara came over to our table and sat down next to Vaughn.

I pulled my hand away.

She didn't say anything to me, she just sat there glaring, occasionally taking a quick glance at Denny. I sighed. She obviously wasn't mad at Denny…Just at me.

We used to be pretty close, before our mom died. Mom was always sick, and our dad hadn't been around much. He was always away on business. Or at least that's what he told us... After I turned 17 he'd stopped coming home entirely. Shortly after that our mom died, and since I was the older sibling, I just kind of took over things. Kara started distancing herself from me after that, especially after Denny and his folks moved in next door to us.

Now it felt as if I were staring at a total stranger.

"I'm sorry I left without telling you, and I'm sorry I ran off with Denny. But you can't get all mad at me like this without knowing why I did!" I said. This was my last chance to save whatever relationships I still had with these people. I had to at least try to make things right again.

She rolled he eyes. "Okay then. Explain why."

I took a breath. "Denny's parent's died because of something I did, okay? I couldn't stay in that stupid place anymore and wake up every morning thinking about it! I had to get away."  
She paused a moment to think about what I'd said, then stood up. "So you ran off with him? You killed his family… Then you ran off with him? What sense does that make?"

I stood up too, barely in control of my emotions. "You don't even _know_ what happened, okay? So don't sit here and get all bitchy with me! You don't even _know_the story!"

"And do I really care about what you did? No! All I care about is the fact that you stole him from me!"

That stung. That really, really stung. Even if we weren't that close anymore, she had crossed the line. "I'm your flesh and blood, and you don't even care about what happened to me?"

She crossed her arms, smirking, "Not really, no. Oh, what's wrong? You getting mad, _sister dear_? You gonna kill me too?"

"It's not something to make fun of!" I said, fighting back the tears that were threatening to spill onto my cheeks at any second.

"How about if I stole _your_boyfriend , huh? Would you like that?" She bent down and grabbed Vaughn by his bandana, kissing him on the lips. He pushed her off and said something to her, but I don't know what. I was too busy trying to find things to throw. I grabbed whatever was within my reach -flowers, spoon, chicken leg- and threw them in her direction.

Someone grabbed me from behind, a security guard. The guy who had been serving customers at the counter walked over, scowling.

"I knew you people were trouble! Throw them out!"

The guard picked me up and threw me outside on the sidewalk. I landed in a puddle. A few seconds later Kara was thrown on the curb next to me. Denny and Vaughn followed us out. Apparently their non-violent behavior had earned them the right to walk out with some dignity, instead of being thrown.

"You're a maniac, you know that?" Kara said, picking herself and her scattered pieces of clothing up. "I don't want anything to do with you ever again, you hear me?"

I watched her and Denny walk off together. I felt like I was going to be sick.

Vaughn grabbed my arm. "Come on."

"Just leave me alone."

He tugged at my arm again and I hesitantly got up.

I heard someone scream, and seconds later something struck me in the back of my head. Something hard.

It hurt…

It felt like my head was exploding from pain…

"Chelsea?"

The world started to fade to black….

And the last thing I thought was that…

If I was going to die…

At least it would be in Vaughn's arms.


	17. Chapter 17

HAHA! Look, I updated fast this time! ^_^

**Chapter 17**

"I saw it! I finally saw it!" I yelled, sitting up.

Vaughn, Mirabelle and Julia all jumped at the sound of my voice, and stared back at me with very concerned expressions on their faces. We were in a rather posh looking hotel room, full of shiny gold fabrics and rich wooden furnishings. Vaughn was sitting in a chair beside the humongous gold-curtained window, Julia and Mirabelle at the end of my king sized bed. I glanced at the clock on the nightstand. It was only 5 in the morning…

"You saw what?" Mirabelle asked, sounding concerned. She probably thought I was going nuts.

I considered screaming "THE ALIENS! I SAW THE ALIENS!" You know, for fun...to see how they'd react. But that would be mean. And probably land me in a psycho ward.

"Just this dream I've been having over and over. I finally got to see how it ends." I said, and their expressions relaxed a little.

I smiled. Yep, I had finally gotten to see the whole dream. After Vaughn had gotten my necklace back from those boys, I gave him a coin. Just this rusty old thing I'd dug up n my backyard once. I liked the coin, but I'd really wanted to thank him, and that was the only way my 10 year old self had known how. It still scared me how realistic that dream was, almost like a real memory. Perhaps it was, some long forgotten memory…

I smiled at how ridiculous that sounded, then winced as my head started throbbing with pain for a few seconds. Images from last night rushed back to me. The fight with Kara, something hitting me…

"What happened?" I asked, rubbing the back of my head.

"You passed out." Vaughn said, taking off his hat and smoothing down his hair. "Some drunk idiot threw a liquor bottle out of his car window and it hit you in the back of your head. I was gonna carry you home to…um…my place. Just 'cuz I didn't know where else to take you." He added when Mirabelle elbowed Julia in the ribs and raised her eyebrows, grinning. "But I saw these two near the docks where I live, they said something about waiting there for hours for you."

I frowned, suddenly remembering how I was suppose to have met them there. "Oh…I forgot ….I'm sorry guys."

"We're just glad you're okay." Mirabelle said.

"Yeah! And you found Vaughn!" Julia added, jumping up. "This calls for a group hug!"

Two seconds later I was in the middle of a group hug fest.

"So? Does this mean we can all go home now?" Julia asked.

"Guess so!" Mirabelle said, grinning. "You ready to come back, cowboy?"

"…You guys will take me back?"

"Of course! I mean, you were a total idiot, but you're OUR idiot, Vaughn."

He smiled. I smiled too. I was happy for him, but….

"Can I stay here? Just for another day or two?" Everyone looked at me. "There's still something I need to take care of."

Mirabelle put her hands on her hips. "I'd like to help you Chelsea, really…But I'd rather not keep the shop closed any longer than I have to…"

"I'll stay with her." Vaughn said. "We can catch my boat back to the island on Wednesday. You guys go ahead and go if you need to."

I grinned at Vaughn.

It was good to be with him again.

**x-x-x  
**  
"Tell me you didn't want to stay just to try and talk to Kara again." Vaughn said as I walked with him to the bakery. I bit my lip. He scowled. "She told you not to bug her again!"

"I know, but she's my sister! I can't just leave things the way they are! And I'll _never_be able to move on if I don't talk to Denny!"

"Kinda difficult to do if he's not talking to you either."

We walked into the bakery. I looked at all the bright colors and feminine details. I _so_wouldn't have thought to look for Vaughn here. I sat down at one of the few tables the shop had, and a few moments later Vaughn walked over to me.

"Talked to the manager. Told her I'll be leaving after today."

"Will you miss this job?"

He shrugged. "It was definitely different." He gave me a quick smile and walked off. A few minutes after that Kara walked in, wearing…_all black?_ Black shirt, black skirt, black ankle boots, black tights…I had never, NEVER seen her wear anything so dark. I didn't even know she _owned_ anything black**!**I held my breath, unsure of what would happen…

But either Kara didn't see me, or didn't care that I was there, because she walked by without giving me even a glance. I fought the urge to try and talk to her.

I needed a distraction.

I took off my rucksack and started emptying out the contents. Some wild grasses, an ear of corn, some sheep wool (why the heck was I carrying these around with me?) Towards the bottom of my bag I found a notepad and right next to that…

I pulled out the tiny 4 by 6 painting and stared at it, my heart once again breaking. It was one of the last paintings Kara had ever made for me, before our mother died. A painting of two girls…of two sisters….laughing and holding hands on the top of a grassy hill.

I put the painting aside, afraid that if I stared at it anymore I'd break down. I glanced at the notepad again, and an idea started forming in my mind…

I put everything but the painting and notepad back in my bag and pulled out a pen…

**x-x-x  
**  
Vaughn and I walked out of the bakery around noon. The manager had given us each a cupcake as a farewell gift. I looked at the brightly decorated treat and sighed. To think, my sister had decorated it…

"So Kara wants me to go to her art show tonight."

I stared at Vaughn. "What?"

"Yeah. Guess she doesn't know I'm with you."

I frowned, feeling mildly offended. "Did she mention me? At all?"

"Not really. She acted as if last night never happened. So I did too."

"Did you tell her you'd go?"

He narrowed his eyes at me. "I said I'd see… _You're _not going."

I scowled. "I can go if I want! Besides, It's not her I'd want to see there…."

Vaughn raised an eyebrow. "Denny?"

"Think he'll be there?"

He shrugged. "No idea. Why?"

"Well, I was thinking. Every time I try to talk to him, things go wrong, right? So I decided to do this!" I pulled out my notepad, smiling. "I wrote the whole story, everything that happened, in a note! That way he can just read it, and I won't chicken out or get interrupted again."

He stopped walking. I turned around.

"What?"

He just stared at me, his face unreadable. I'd forgotten how quiet and secretive he could be. I sighed. "Come on, what is it?"

"…What was that dream about?"

I almost dropped my cupcake in surprise. "Where'd _that_question come from?"

He shrugged. "Just curious."

We continued walking. I blushed. There was _no way _I was going to admit I'd been dreaming about him every night for a month!

"So? What was it about?"

"Um…Bunnies. Yeah. I've been dreaming about a lost bunny, and he finally found his way home."

"Cute. But how come every time you tell me a lie, it involves bunnies?" He said, smirking. I rolled my eyes, trying not to smile myself.

"Fine, I lied! But it's a secret."

"Oh godess, not another secret!"

"Yep, and this one involves you!" I said, giving him a sly smile.

He grinned –actually GRINNED!- and said "Oh? Well I've still got that secret about you, don't forget."

Agh- I _HAD _forgotten! "Oh yeah! What is it? Tell me!"

"Hmph. Not till you tell me one of _your _secrets."

"…Okay." I stopped walking. I tore two pages full of writing from my notepad and held them out to him.

"Here. My full confession."

**x-x-x**  
Thanks so much for the reviews, guys ^_^ And Swingdancer, thank you very much for your review-slash-story summary XD It was really kind and encouraging and I loved how you went through the whole story and mentioned what your thoughts on each part were. It took me a long time to update sometimes because I'd never really planned this story out, I just kind of wrote it as I went. So I was always scared that the chapters wouldn't connect well or make sense, or that it was getting boring. So your review really made my day, and made me feel better about how it all connected ^_^  
But thanks for _all_ the reviews, guys! I appreciate them all. And hopefully Chapter 18 will be up next week (already written, just need to type it :P) So as always, let me know what you think!


	18. Chapter 18

Secound to last chapter!:o I had trouble with Chelsea's note. I couldn't get it to look right, because putting it in italics didn't seperate it much from the rest, and double spacing wouldn't work so I had to end up putting the whole thing in bold. I apologize if it gives anyone a headache DX

**Chapter 18**

I blinked at the papers clenched in Chelsea's hand.

"…Really? I can read it?"

She nodded. I smiled, taking the papers from her. Had I really been so afraid of seeing her again?

"We're almost at my place. I'll read it when we get there." I said, shoving her confession in my pocket for safekeeping.

10 minutes later we arrived at my beat up old shack of a house. I suddenly felt embarrassed. Chelsea had probably expected me to live in a mansion. Or at least somewhere with a pool. And air conditioning.

"Wow…This is so…different." She said, a faint smile on her face. She probably thought it was a total dump, but was just too polite to say so. I shrugged, trying to downplay my embarassment. I opened my door and could've punched myself. Old shabby furniture, messy bed, dusty floor…I honestly couldn't remember the last time I'd bothered to clean up.

"Well this is embarrassing…" I said more to myself than to anyone else. Chelsea shook her head.

"No, it's very…you."

I raised an eyebrow. "You think I'm old and dusty?"

"N-NO! I mean…it's just so 'hey, I don't care if I look like a mess!'…You get what I'm saying…right?"

I raised my eyebrow further. She got a look of total panic on her face. I smiled.

"Just kidding. I get what you mean…I think."

She sat down on the sofa and I wandered over to my fridge, hoping that I had remembered to refill it.

I hadn't.

But luckily there was a bottle of soda. I poured us some and sat down next to her.

I tried not to look as anxious as I felt as I pulled her note out of my pocket. "Okay. I'm reading it now."

"…Wait!" She looked me straight in the eye. "Promise you won't think badly of me when you're finished?"

"Promise."

"…Okay."

She looked over my shoulder as I unfolded the note and began to read.

**Denny,**

**I can't think of any other way to tell you this than to write you a note. Please, please read it, all of it.**

**I already told you about how I snuck onto your parent's boat to look around. Here's the part I didn't tell you.**

**I was still on the boat when I heard your parents coming. I could hear them saying goodbye to you on the docks. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to get caught, but by then they were actually ON the boat, and I had no way of getting off unseen. So I ran below the deck, into that storage room where they kept their fishing gear. I figured I'd only be stuck down there a day or two, because that's how long they were usually gone on their fishing trips. I figured I could survive that.**

**The boat started moving and I sat down behind a stack of crates and closed my eyes.**

**But then I overheard your parents talking about how hard it would be to leave you for a whole MONTH. I freaked out. I accidently knocked over the crates. They heard the noise, and came down to investigate. They said it might have been rats that knocked over the crates, and started looking around to see if they could find any… I tried to hide under a pile of fishing nets. Your dad was headed straight for where I was hiding, and I panicked. I jumped out of the pile and threw some of the nets over him, just to try and slow him down so I could escape. I think his hair and his necklace got tangled up in them….**

**Your mom saw me and started screaming about how dead I was when she caught me. I don't know if she knew it was me or not, but after all those stories I'd heard form you guys….About how sacred a boat is, and what happens to trespassers and stuff…I didn't want to take a chance. I ran as fast as I could, and she started chasing me.**

**I ran back up the stairs and into this other room, where I tripped. She grabbed my leg and said it was the last time I'd ever see it! Denny I swear she was going to cut my leg off! So I grabbed whatever I could get my hands on- I think it was a shovel- and started hitting her with it as hard as I could. Don't get mad at me, okay? I didn't want to hurt her, I just got scared and wanted her to let go of me.**

**She grabbed the shovel and started hitting me with it! I grabbed something else, this brass telescope, and whacked her on the head, once. She stopped attacking me so I ran for it again, and didn't stop until I was on the other side of the boat.**

**No one was chasing me anymore.**

**I could still see the shore. We hadn't gotten that far, and I had no idea how long I might be stranded on this boat for so I chanced it. I jumped into the water and managed to swim back to land. It started to thunder and I just…broke down…That's when you came outside, and saw me sitting there soaking wet, crying. You asked what was wrong.**

**And I told you I just really hated storms.**

"It wasn't even true." Chelsea said, staring at her words. "I was never afraid of storms."

I looked at her. "You told me you were."

She shook her head. "They always remind me of what happened…that's why I hate them."

I stared at her for a moment then read the last few lines of the note.

**You probably wonder why I didn't tell anyone. They found your parent's boat a few days after it happened, so I didn't have much time to figure out what to do. They said it was an accident...**

**And really, that's all it was.**

I folded the paper back up and sat there for a minute, thinking. Chelsea leaned on my arm. Her face was wet.

"I got away with murder, Vaughn…."

I wrapped my arms around her. "You said it yourself. It was an accident. And no one can be blamed for an accident."

x-x-x

At seven that night we headed for the art show. Denny was surprisingly easy to find. He was standing by himself a few feet away from the crowd.

Chelsea walked up to him. He looked alarmed, but she shoved the note into his hands before he could say anything.

"Here, for you. Don't lose it. And this…" She reached into her rucksack and pulled out a small painting. I tried to see what it was, but couldn't. "Give this to my sister."

"What was that about?" I asked as we walked away. She shrugged.

"Just something I had to do. Did you want to speak to Kara before we left?"

I looked around. Kara was surrounded by a group of people, admiring her work. I shook my head.

"I've had enough of the city. Let's go home."

x-x-x

Okay, so a few chapters ago I said I had a question for you readers, and here it is…I was thinking about writing a prequel to this story, and I was wondering if anyone would be interested in reading it. There were things I touched on but couldn't quite fit into this story (like Kara and Denny being engaged, why Vaughn quit school and why his parents disowned him, what exactly happened between Chelsea and her sister, stuff like that) so I would definitely consider writing a story about before they moved to the island, when they were younger. But again, only if there are people out there who would want to read it! So if you do, please let me know, in a review or PM or whatever.  
Anyways, hope you liked this chapter! Last chapter, coming soon!


	19. Chapter 19

I'm not sure this ending is much of an..._ending_...so I've also written a little epilogue . Also, even though I _hate_ when there are P.O.V. switches in the middle of a chapter- there is a P.O.V. switch in this chapter. I think I made it clear, but just in case you miss it and suddenly get confused, I'm letting you know it's there ~_~. Anyways, thank you so much to everyone who has stuck with this story! I hope you enjoy this chapter! And of course let me know your opinion, and if there's anything you think I left out! ^_^

**Chapter 19  
**

"Yo."

I had been in the process of taking down a rather large painting when Vaughn's head appeared through my window, scaring the _crap _outta me and almost making me fall off of the chair I was standing on. I glared at the amused look on his face as I steadied myself.

"How many times have I told you to stay away from my window?"

He shrugged. "It's so amusing, watching you freak out like that..." He shook his head, glancing around my house. "I don't know how many time's I've caught you rearranging those things now."

I'd taken down all the paintings in my house- all made by my sister- when Vaughn and I came back to the island a month ago, because looking at them was making me depressed. But after a few days I got tired of staring at blank walls...And I felt bad about taking them down. So I'd started hanging them all back up again.

But somehow it was taking way longer to put them up than it had taken to take them down. Probably because I kept moving them around...

I shrugged. "At least this gives me something to do. What did you do today?"

"Work."

Typical Vaughn response. "What else?"

"Talked to Den...uh..."

I raised an eyebrow. "Denny? What did he say?"

"Not much...something about a house in the woods..."

"Someone new moved here?"

"I guess."

"Do you know who it is?"

He shook his head, but for some reason I didn't believe him. I headed towards my door.

"I want to go see! I love meeting new people!"

"...It's getting pretty late, though. Maybe you should wait til tomorrow."

"Vaughn, it's only five-thirty. Come on!"

He didn't look happy about it, but he followed as I left my house and headed for the woods.

**x-x-x**

"Ha! Look." I saw the house nestled between some large rocks at the base of the mountain. It was painted orange and had triangular windows.

"What a lunatic..." Vaughn said, scowling at the house. I grinned.

"I like it! It's got character." I grabbed his wrist. "Come on! I wanna meet this person even _more _now!"

Vaughn didn't move. He just stared at me. There was _definitely _something wrong with him.

"What is with you?" I asked. For some reason he really didn't want me to meet this person...And I could only think of one reason why. "Wait...This isn't...Like...An ex of yours or something, is it?"

There was a loud gasp and I was suddenly pushed out of the way as someone ran by me, screaming "Vaaauuuuuggghhhnnnn!"

I blinked as Kara...MY SISTER Kara- ran up to him and gave him a high five. "Man, I haven't seen you in, like, FOREVER!...You look pretty different in all black. You should go back to wearing lime green. I totally have an extra apron I can hook you up with."

"…No thanks…"

She shrugged, then turned to me. "Hey, Chelsea. So, um...You live here too, I see."

I shook my head in disbelief. "Kara, how'd you…? Why are you…?"

"Denny brought me here on his boat. Like, two weeks ago. I had that big bald dude build me a house in exchange for a portrait of his daughter. There is NO WAY those two are related…" She wiped her hands on her strawberry patterned t-shirt. "I uh…. I was going to visit you, but, well…I wasn't sure if I should. I was sorta mean the last time I saw you, and...uh..."

She gave me an unsure smile, and I felt a sudden urge to hug her. So I did.

And I smiled when she hugged me back and didn't push me away, like she'd done before.

But then she started laughing.

I frowned. "What?"

"You, running a farm! Man, that's weird. What about that time mom wanted you to watch her garden for a few days, and you ended up killing all her plants? You have, like, _the _most un-green thumb I've ever seen…" She suddenly stopped laughing. "Whoa, wait…People here don't actually EAT the stuff you grow…right?"

I scowled at her. "I'll have you know that's ALL anyone here eats! My vegitables, 24/7!"

She looked at Vaughn, a nauseated expression on her face. "...Really?"

He gave me an evil smile.

**X-X-X  
Vaughn **

I smiled as Chelsea and I left the woods an hour later. I had been a little worried about how she might react to seeing Kara again, but now that that was over, I felt...

Happy.

"Your sister's a lunatic."

"Yeah."

"We really had her going with that 'all us islanders are vegitarians' thing."

"M-hm..."

I glanced at Chelsea. "You okay?"

"Yeah… It's just….I'm really glad she moved here, you know? Thanks for telling me."

"You would have found out eventually…" I muttered, blushing slightly as she threw her arms around me.

"Yeah, but it's thanks to you that she moved here! If you hadn't come here….if I hadn't met you, then I would never have gone back to the city and made up with her! And I would've still been in that messed up relationship with Denny, and I wouldn't have been able to tell him the truth…" She tightened her grip on me. "I'm just really, really happy we met. You totally changed my life, Vaughn…"

I, being the really-inexperienced-at-relationships person that I am, had no idea how to respond to this. So I just put my hands on her back in a sort of loose hug.

Then I surprised myself by saying "You changed my life, too…"

She glanced up at me. "Really? How?"

"Uh…" I was by no means ready to tell her my reason for wanting to get to know her. She'd think I was mental. "Um…."

She looked confused for a second, then let me go. "Oh…You were just saying that to be nice…"

"N-no! I…um...It's like…"

"It's alright. You don't have to tell me."

Aggggghhhhhhh…..! Why was I so bad at this? I cleared my throat. It was now or never….

"You…I…Think we've met before." She raised an eyebrow. "A long time ago. Like 10 years ago."

To my surprise, a small smile appeared on her face. "Yeah?"

"Um, yeah…I guess you probably don't remember, but…I think I …helped you out with some bullies once." I reached into my pocket and pulled out the coin.

Chelsea snatched it, looking surprised. "Whoa, you _kept _it? All these years?"

I blinked. It was my turn to be confused. She smiled.

"I actually do remember, Vaughn. You know that dream you kept bugging me to tell you about? The one I kept having when you left? That's what I kept seeing...that once incident where, I guess, we met..." She turned the coin over. "Yeah, this is the same coin! I remember, because it had that little dent in the side, see?"

"…Why didn't you tell me?" I asked, feeling an odd mixture of relief and stupidity. She shrugged.

"I wasn't sure if it was something that had really happened, or if it was just a really vivid dream. " She smiled. "Wow, I'm so glad it's real!"

"…Me too." I said, as I wrapped my arms around her.

My heart had been right after all.

**x-x-x  
**


	20. Chapter 20

Alright, here's the FINAL final part of the story. ^_~ Enjoy!

**Epilogue**

Chelsea and I sat on the beach a little over a month later, Kara laying next to us on the sand. She and Chelsea had been inseparable since they were reunited. I personally found it annoying, having her tag along all the time, but I knew it made Chelsea happy, so I tried to put up with it.

And honestly, I hadn't been paying either one of them much attention lately. A few weeks ago, Chen had started quizzing me on my feelings for Chelsea every time I walked into his shop. I thought I could avoid this problem by not going in his store, but then he started _looking_ for me, running up to me and saying crap like "You like Chelsea, huh? You ever think about buying her a feather? You wanna get married to her, right?"

Before, I hadn't given much thought to feathers, or marriage, or any of that stuff. I was just glad Chelsea and I were together. But now, thanks to that idiot, every time I saw Chelsea I started thinking about it. About if that was something she wanted. Or I wanted. But it wasn't like I could just bring this up with her- I didn't like it when Chen bugged me about my feelings, so I wasn't going to start bugging Chelsea about hers.

So instead, I sat on the beach, thoughts of feathers and eternal togetherness running through my mind, while Chelsea and Kara chattered on about something or other.

It was all quite annoying.

"Vaughn? ...Hey, Vaughn?"

I blinked, and realized Chelsea was staring at me, her face just a few inches from mine. "You okay? I've been trying to talk to you for like five minutes now..."

"Oh. Yeah...sorry..." I glanced around. "Your shadow left?"

"She said something about wanting to have lunch with Denny." She rolled her eyes and put her head on my shoulder- something she'd been doing a lot more often lately. Which was just adding to my confusion. And then I wondered...Had Chen been quizzing _her_ like this?

"Hey...has Chen been asking you weird questions lately?"

She tensed. "Um...no. Weird how?"

"...Never mind."

"No, really...What kind of questions?" She asked, eyeing me warily.

I shrugged. "Stupid personal things. Like how I feel about this and that."

"...Oh." She put her head back on my shoulder. "I guess you find that annoying, huh?"

"Yeah. Very."

A few minutes later she jumped up, looking me in the eye. "Okay, fine. It's my fault. I've been telling Chen to ask you those questions. About how much you like me."

"What?" I hadn't expected that. "Why?"

She sighed. "...I uh..." She glanced around, suddenly looking very nervous. My heart started pounding.

"Chelsea, what's wrong?"

"...I'm not sure if this is the place or time for this, but then again...This IS the first time my sister has left me alone in weeks..." She gave me a feeble smile. "Close your eyes."

"...What for?"

"Please just do it."

I hesitated, not knowing why I suddenly felt dizzy and nauseous, yet somehow knowing exactly why. I very slowly closed my eyes and kept them closed for almost a minute.

"Okay. Open."

By now, I had been sort of expecting there to be a blue feather, but...

Actually seeing one in her hand was a whole different story.

Seeing _two of them_…That was just plain confusing.

"Why do you have two of those things?" I asked. "What're you doing?"

"Weeelllll….." She gave me a smile. "I wasn't sure which one you'd like more. See, this one's kind of a light blue, and this one's more of a dark blue…..What do you think?"

My jaw dropped a few inches. She frowned. "What's wrong?"

"…..You're worrying about which _color_ I want? Shouldn't you be more worried about whether or not I _want _one, period?"

"Oh... I should, shouldn't I…? Um…_Do _you want one? I mean….Will you accept one of these feathers in marriage?"

I blinked. Would I?

She held her breath as I shook my head, sighing.

"You're just as nuts as your sister. I'll take the light one. It's the same color as your eyes."

She looked stunned for a minute, and then gave me a grin that was so brilliant and sincere it made my breath catch in my throat. "REALLY?" She threw her arms around my neck, and I fell back onto the sand. "Wow, that was scary...I didn't know _how_ you were going to react when I asked you...Chen told me you didn't answer any of the questions, so I wasn't sure..." .

I snorted. "Coulda just asked me directly, instead of getting him to do the work for you. I almost punched him a few times for being so nosey."

"..."

"Besides, Chen's full of crap."

"…Huh?" She let me go and stared at me. "What do you mean?"

I sighed, reaching into my pocket and reluctantly pulling out the feather I'd bought not even a week ago, though I'd been unsure of when I'd use it. Her eyes grew wide.

"Vaughn…_you _bought one too?"

I shrugged. "He wouldn't stop bugging me about it. I caved in."

We looked at each other, then we both started smiling, then laughing, and then we kissed. And I knew that whatever we had gone through in the past, all that was over. Because this was the beginning of something brand new.

And I was never going to let her go again.

**x-x-x**

Aaaannnnd...done! ^_^ Thanks so much for reading to the end guys! *Hugs computer. Receives weird looks from bystanders. Lets computer go and tries to ignore lingering stares.*

About the prequel- If I do it, I probably won't start posting it until mid-summer. There are a few short stories I've been wanting to work on- and I want to try one of those challenges that have been floating around! XD

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the story! It was my first one for Harvest Moon, and I really enjoyed writing it. Thank you for reading, and please let me know what you thought, and whatever tips or pointers you can offer for future stories! ^_^ I appreciate it!


End file.
